For a while now, leakers have been claiming that Kaitlyn Dever will take on the role of Abby in The Last of Us Season 2 on HBO. Turns out they were completely right!
The question of who's going to play Abby in HBO's The Last of Us has been keeping fans up at night for months at this point. Abby has been fancast countless times, but the leaks were always pointing in one direction: Kaitlyn Dever.
Known leaker Daniel Richtman, @DanielRPK on Twitter/X, first claimed that Kaitlyn Dever was going to take the part of Abby, and this was backed up by his colleague Jeff Sneider. Just a few weeks later, HBO confirmed the news. So, we've got our Abby, folks!
Dever getting the part makes sense on more levels than people give her credit for, but let's start from the top.
Kaitlyn Dever Has Officially Been Cast As Abby In The Last of Us
After the leakers shared their insights, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann took their sweet time to confirm the news. It's been made official in early January, though: Kaitlyn Dever gets to join the cast!
Kaitlyn Dever has joined the cast of the HBO Original series #TheLastofUs for Season 2. @TheLastofUsHBO pic.twitter.com/dFnhGsJ1x2
— Max (@StreamOnMax) January 9, 2024
Dever as Abby does indeed make sense in more ways than one, contrary to popular belief. Online, people mostly demand for her to "better bulk up" to fit Abby's physique from the game (while other people have been complaining about exactly that for years at this point, crying about how impossible it would be to keep that kind of muscle in the apocalypse).
Others are complaining that she looks more like Ellie than Abby, which apparently is enough reason to already be mad about the casting choice. That's basically the same treatment Bella Ramsay received, so chances are the Last of Us community may just have a hard time trusting the showrunners.
Sadly, Dever will most likely face some hard times. At least, that's what Laura Bailey (who played Abby in the game) had to go through after you-know-what-happened – literal death threats to an actress, what the hell is wrong with those people? To this day, The Last of Us Part II is a pretty controversial topic, and chances are the live-action Abby will have to take some blows as well.
Why Dever Might Be Just The Right Choice For Abby
Not only has Dever actually auditioned for Ellie before (and got quite far in the process before Ramsay booked the part) and is obviously familiar with The Last of Us, she has worked with Naughty Dog before. Even though it was just a small role, Dever played Cassie in the epilogue of Uncharted 4, so she's got her connections to Neil Druckmann and Naughty Dog. That's a win in my book!
Other than that, show-Abby probably won't be the mirror-image of game-Abby anyway. Just like Ellie got some minor changes to her character, Abby will be fine-tuned as well. Making her look a little softer than in the game (where her physique was also an important part of gameplay – a factor that HBO can completely ignore) may just make the audience more inclined to give her a chance and not write her off as the villain.
Still, from just a practical standpoint, Dever might also be just the right choice: she's just a little bit taller than Ramsay, which could make filming way easier and make Ellie and Abby seem more like what they are: Two sides of the same coin.