Kaitlyn Dever on Abby Role: 'Hard to Avoid Internet Spoilers'

Actress Kaitlyn Dever, set to portray Abby in the highly anticipated second season of HBO's *The Last of Us*, has opened up about the challenges of dealing with online reactions to her character. Abby, a polarizing figure from the original video game, has been at the center of significant online toxicity, leading to harassment of Naughty Dog employees, including Neil Druckmann and actress Laura Bailey, who voiced Abby in the game. The abuse even extended to Bailey's family, including her young son. HBO, aware of the potential backlash, provided Dever with extra security during filming.

Isabel Merced, who plays Dina in Season 2, commented on the situation, 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." This sentiment underscores the intense reactions from some fans, despite Abby being a fictional character.

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In an interview with ScreenRant, Dever shared her thoughts on the anticipation surrounding Abby's portrayal. "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 commitment to the role, focusing on the collaboration with Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin to capture Abby's emotional depth. "But my main focus was just the collaboration between Neil and Craig [Mazin], 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."

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Last month, Druckmann revealed that the HBO adaptation of *The Last of Us Part 2* would present Abby differently, not requiring her to be as muscular as in the game. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Druckmann and Mazin explained that Dever's portrayal of Abby wouldn't need to emphasize physical strength due to the adaptation's focus on drama rather than video game mechanics.

"We would've struggled to find someone as good as Kaitlyn to play this role," Druckmann said. "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. I'm not saying there's no action here. It's just, again, different priorities and how you approach it."

Mazin added, "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 intention to expand *The Last of Us Part 2* across multiple seasons, unlike Season 1, which covered the entire first game. While Season 3 has not been confirmed, Mazin mentioned that Season 2 would have a "natural breakpoint" after seven episodes, allowing for a potential continuation of the story in future seasons.