THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US SEASON 2
Right at the beginning of The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 1, Kaitlyn Dever’s character, Abby, gives a haunting monologue about tracking down and killing Joel (Pedro Pascal). She not only wants to kill Joel–to get vengeance for Joel killing her father–but she says she wants to kill Joel “slowly.”
Dever told The Hollywood Reporter that this is a “chilling” moment in the episode. “She’s a chilly ice queen!” she said.
“She just needs something to make it all better,” Dever said. “And in that moment, the only thing she can think about is revenge. She’s heartbroken, she’s sad, she’s lost and she’s trying to pick up the pieces.”
Abby the character generated a lot of debate, discussion, and discourse when The Last of Us: Part II came out in 2020, and many are expecting the same to be true for the TV show. Dever told Collider that she is aware of the conversation surrounding Abby, but she did not focus too much on it when performing her part.
“Obviously, I know about the conversation surrounding Abby, obviously, but in order to do my job in the best way possible, I had to just be aware of it but then just not put all my focus on it,” she said. “If I was too worried about what was being said about this character online, I think it would have taken away from the performance. At the end of the day, that’s the most important thing.”
Dever went on to say The Last of Us bosses Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann “didn’t seem very concerned” about the blowback to Abby from the game when working on the TV show.
“It was nice that they had a lot of confidence in me taking on this role. And so, then I had a lot of confidence in myself moving forward, in taking on this kind of role,” Dever said.
Also in the interview, Dever claimed she did not audition for Abby. As many may recall, Dever was originally eyed to play Ellie when The Last of Us was in development as a movie. It didn’t work out, of course, but Dever was known to Mazin and Druckmann, who cast her as Abby without an audition.
“They’re very confident storytellers,” she said of Mazin and Druckmann. “They know who is right for their story, and they have such confidence in that. It’s very helpful when you’re making something like this, because it allows for freedom, and for feeling safe to play these characters.”
The Last of Us Season 2 had a strong debut, bringing in 5.3 million same-day viewers, compared to 4.7 million for the series premiere back in 2023.
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sunday nights at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET.
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