Actress Kaitlyn Dever, who portrays Abby in the highly anticipated The Last of Us Season 2, has opened up about the challenges of navigating the intense online reactions to her character. Abby, a polarizing figure from the original game, has been the target of significant toxicity, leading to harassment of Naughty Dog employees, including co-president Neil Druckmann and actress Laura Bailey, who voiced Abby in the game. This harassment escalated to threats against Bailey, her parents, and her young child, prompting HBO to provide Dever with additional security during filming.
Isabel Merced, who plays Dina in Season 2, highlighted the bizarre nature of the fan reaction, saying, "There's so many strange people in this world because there are people that actually genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person. Just a reminder: not a real person."
The Last of Us Season 2 Character Posters
3 Images
In a recent interview with ScreenRant, Dever discussed her approach to the character amidst the anticipation and scrutiny. "Well, it's hard not to see those things on the internet," she admitted. "It's hard not to stop myself from looking at it every once in a while, especially going into this, for sure. And I want to do this character justice and make the fans proud by bringing her to life in this kind of way."
Dever emphasized her focus on the collaborative process with Druckmann and showrunner Craig Mazin, aiming to capture Abby's emotional depth and complexity. "But my main focus was just the collaboration between Neil and Craig, and making sure I was really getting to the core of who she is and what drives her and her emotional state; her anger and her frustration and her grief and all of that. I wanted to make sure that that was what I was focusing most of my energy on."
The Last of Us Season 2 Cast: Who's New and Coming Back to the HBO Show?
11 Images
Last month, Druckmann shared insights into adapting Abby for the HBO series, noting that the show would not emphasize her muscularity as in the game. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Druckmann and Mazin explained that Dever's portrayal would not require bulking up, as the narrative would focus more on drama than on the video game's mechanics. Druckmann praised Dever's casting, saying, "We would've struggled to find someone as good as Kaitlyn to play this role."
Druckmann elaborated on the differences between the game and the series, stating, "In the game, you have to play both [Ellie and Abby] and we need them to play differently. We needed Ellie to feel smaller and kind of maneuver around, and Abby was meant to play more like Joel in that she's almost like a brute in the way she can physically manhandle certain things. That doesn't play as big of a role in this version of the story because there's not as much violent action moment to moment. It's more about the drama."
Mazin added his perspective, saying, "I personally think there is an amazing opportunity here to delve into someone who is perhaps physically more vulnerable than the Abby in the game, but whose spirit is stronger. And then the question is: 'Where does her formidable nature come from and how does it manifest?' That's something that will be explored now and later."
The "now and later" comment hints at HBO's plans to expand The Last of Us Part 2 beyond a single season. While Season 3 has not been officially greenlit, Mazin mentioned that Season 2 has been structured with a "natural breakpoint" after seven episodes, allowing for further exploration of the story in future seasons.
