The Last of Us Creators' New Abby Comments Have Me Extremely Worried About Season 2

Neil Druckmann's massively popular and emotional video game clicked its way into our hearts upon its release in 2013. Zombie-adjacent horror games were not a new concept, but the creator raised the stakes in the story of Joel and Ellie. The Last of Us isn't just a hack 'em-up role-playing game. Druckmann took the medium of video games to make a moving and -- more often than not -- an emotionally traumatic story. Players are thrust into the perspective of Joel Miller on the day that a devastating infection consumes the world. Druckmann forces the players to experience the most harrowing experience anyone can have -- losing a child. As Joel traverses a dystopian world, he is constantly confronted with his trauma, especially when he meets the teenage Ellie, who needs his help. Unlike many of the games I play, The Last of Us is not open-world and has no side quests to speak of. Players have to endure the ups and downs of this relationship with no reprieve.

In other words, The Last of Us was the perfect game for an HBO adaptation. In 2023, Craig Mazin partnered with Druckmann for an official television retelling of the celebrated game. Die-hard fans noted that there are some deviations from the game. As Druckmann states, if a suggested change to the source material is worse than the game or evokes the same level of emotional resonance, there is no change. If the suggested change is better, the series will deviate. I loved many of these deviations, and for the most part, this worked in Season 1. But even before the changes have made it to the screen for Season 2, I have some reservations.

The Last of Us Creatives Have Announced a Concerning Change

I would be remiss if I did not state for the record that I love Kaitlyn Dever. I first saw her in the high school comedy Booksmart alongside Beanie Feldstein, probably alongside the rest of the entertainment industry. Since then, I have followed her career with interest, including the gripping Hulu horror film No One Will Save You. I was also blown away by her Australian accent in Netflix's Apple Cider Vinegar. She is a performer like no one else in her generation. Her casting in The Last of Us as Abby made me hesitant. There is no question that Dever is up to taking on Abby's intense scenes, but she isn't exactly the type many of us thought of when fan-casting Abby from the game. Many fans scoured the trailer to see any hint of the muscled and powerful character from the story we know so well. I wanted to hold my concerns until seeing the season, since Mazin and Druckmann have made changes in the past that worked for the series. But in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, my worst fears were confirmed.

"In the game, you have to play both characters [Ellie and Abby], and we need them to play differently," Druckmann told the outlet. "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."

The Last of Us creatives have made this point in the past. They value performance over what the characters look like in the game. Bella Ramsey was an inspired casting as one of the best gaming characters, though she physically doesn't resemble Ellie from the game, I would argue that this is a different situation, however. Again, there is no world where Dever won't pull off an amazing performance, but some elements from the story would be tricky. Druckmann's statement indicates that they aren't just changing the aesthetics of the game. They are changing the story altogether.

Abby's Physical Prowess Defines The Last of Us II

There was some time between The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II, and for the better. Neil Druckmann took the time he needed to make a follow-up to his first game that was not only on par with it but exceeded it in quality. The second game continues the narrative that violence is a destructive cycle. It has been five years since the game came out, so for those who have not played it, be prepared for spoilers for The Last of Us game timeline. The central drive of the game is directly consequential to the end of the first. Though it takes place years later, Joel has to pay for his crimes after liberating Ellie from the Firefly hospital. While warranted, Joel kills the Fireflies, who want to cut open Ellie's brain for a cure. One of Joel's victims was a doctor named Jerry – who turns out to be Abby's father. In almost a one-for-one mirror to Joel and Ellie's story, Abby is wracked with rage and consumed with the idea of revenge. The inciting incident of the entire series is Abby killing Joel with a golf club. The image of Joel's death is so ingrained in my mind it is hard to let go. The entire reason that Abby can overpower Joel is because of her brute strength.

	Abby Portrayed By	Premiere Date	Metacritic Score
The Last of Us game	Laura Bailey	June 14, 2013	89
The Last of Us television series	Kaitlyn Dever	January 15, 2024	84

In the year between Jerry's death and Abby finding Joel, she has become a physical powerhouse. With nothing else to do during the apocalypse than focus on her anger and pump iron, Abby is so muscled that not even an adult man with years of experience could take her on. In the Entertainment Weekly interview, The Last of Us writers state that the physicality in the second season will be less of an issue. It will instead be about the drama of the characters. This philosophy was valid in Season 1, but The Last of Us Part II is too dependent on Abby's strength as a definitive character trait. If Abby can't physically dominate Joel, it doesn't make sense that she kills him. The visual of her beating him to death is too iconic, not just for us but for Ellie as well. Ellie has to watch her father figure beat in front of her eyes, and there is nothing she can do about it. If Abby doesn't have this strength, it takes away the power of the moment and Ellie's quest for revenge.

Abby's strength also makes her such a formidable force against Ellie. Ellie is smaller and sneakier, attributes needed to confront someone who she could never fight face to face. The dichotomy between the two will be severely diminished if Abby is powered down. Making Abby resemble Ellie's body type removes the interesting dynamic between the two characters. Instead of using their different strengths against each other, they become essentially the same character, which is far less dynamic. All of my issues may seem surface-level, but it actually adds to a systemic issue prevalent in Hollywood since its inception.

 

Abby Is a Rare Character In the Entertainment Industry

It can be hard to discuss The Last of Us Part II without at first acknowledging the toxic reaction to Abby Anderson. This vitriol is important, particularly because it is what makes Abby so formidable. When Neil Druckmann first unveiled Abby, toxic players were outraged. How dare a female character kill their beloved Joel? How dare she force these players to play the game through her perspective. Making Abby a playable character was the most genius thing that Druckmann could do. The Last of Us creator essentially made a character that distilled all the feelings of toxic gamers and put them into one. Abby does not conform to traditional beauty standards in Hollywood and many games. She is physically jacked, mentally powerful, and -- the worst of the worst -- female. Gamergate didn't happen so long ago that we have forgotten. Many gamers hate women in this industry. Abby was a perfect solution to this, and it is heartbreaking to see that The Last of Us series is falling back on the tropes of the industry.

"We would've struggled to find someone as good as Kaitlyn to play this role," Druckmann explained to Entertainment Weekly. This argument is, unfortunately, one that has been going around Hollywood since the dawn of time. Only traditionally beautiful people can be good actors. This state of mind was also a defense of the lack of diversity in Hollywood for the past few decades. There are quite a few actors with the body type that Abby has who could have had a crack at an amazing opportunity, particularly because this type of character is so rare in live-action.

The Last of Us could have been a true innovator in making real changes that Hollywood desperately needs. While it is on the right path to include characters that don't fit in certain boxes, there is still so much work to be done. There is no question about Kaitlyn Dever's acting ability, but this is a massively missed opportunity. Women deserve to see themselves on screen in complex roles, even if Hollywood hasn't caught up to modern times yet. The Last of Us has done so much to include different stories such as this that I was shocked that this was the line that was drawn. I can't help but think that Season 2 changed its entire narrative flow because it did not cast actors that fit the character of the game. Even so, I still want to believe. Sydney Sweeney made impressive gains as Christy Martin, a real-life boxer, proving physical changes can be achieved. Even at this point, I wanted to give The Last of Us the benefit of the doubt and see Dever put on some muscle if she was fated to play the role. It isn't to say that I won't be watching The Last of Us Season 2. Mazin and Druckmann have created a beautiful piece of television that I am sure will continue in its sophomore season. But from this perspective, it will be heartbreaking to see Abby's potential disappear without a trace.