The Last Of Us Star Kaitlyn Dever Addresses Backlash And Discourse Around Abby

Kaitlyn Dever joins the cast of HBO's The Last of Us as Abby for its upcoming second season, and anyone who's played the game or knows the game's story understands how central Abby is to the story. When The Last of Us: Part II came out in 2020, the response to Abby was extreme, with actress Laura Bailey receiving death threats, including threats against her newborn child. Dever said in an interview that while she is aware of the stigma surrounding Abby, she remains focused on doing service to the character and making fans proud.

"Well, it's hard not to see those things on the internet. It's hard not to stop myself from looking at it every once in a while, especially going into this, for sure," she told ScreenRant. "And I want to do this character justice and make the fans proud by bringing her to life in this kind of way."

Dever went on to say she worked with showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann to make sure she was "getting to the core of" who Abby is as a person and what drives her. "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," she said when asked how much she paid attention to the online chatter about Abby.

A new trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 premiered this weekend at SXSW, providing the best look at the sophomore season so far. Season 2 picks up five years after the events of Season 1, with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) no longer on the same page.

Season 2 also brings in Jeffrey Wright as Isaac, the same character he played in the game, while The Matrix and The Sopranos actor Joe Pantoliano joins the cast as Eugene. Young Mazino plays Jesse.

The Last of Us Season 2 arrives on Sunday, April 13, and there will be seven episodes in the season, compared to nine for Season 1. There are likely going to be two more seasons of The Last of Us.

As for the game series, some believed Naughty Dog would eventually make The Last of Us: Part III, but Neil Druckmann recently suggested the studio might not. Currently, Naughty Dog is developing a new IP, the single-player game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.