Who Is Abby In The Last Of Us Season 2? Kaitlyn Dever's Character Explained

Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead for The Last of Us Part II game, which will likely spoil The Last of Us season 2 and beyond.Kaitlyn Dever's character in The Last of Us season 2, Abby Anderson, has at last been unveiled, leading many to wonder what kind of role this major character will play heading into the TV show's next chapter. Abby, a character created for The Last of Us Part II, will appropriately be introduced in The Last of Us season 2, which is set to follow the events of the video game's sequel. For those who either haven't played the video games or haven't brushed up on them in a while, Abby's character, and her role in the story, are utterly brand-new.

Abby's character has somewhat superseded her own story, with it having been a center of controversy following the video game sequel's release. It was always known that, going into this adaptation, the creators were going to have to step carefully with how they chose to bring Abby to life on the screen. It wasn't until this January that Kaitlyn Dever's casting was officially announced, tasking her with tackling this complex character head-on in a way she can certainly accomplish. Here's more about who Abby is, and what viewers can expect from her in season 2.

Abby's Backstory In The Last Of Us Games

Abby's Story Ties Directly Into Joel and Ellie's

The most important part of Abby's backstory in The Last of Us Part II is that she's the daughter of Jerry Anderson, the head surgeon who was tasked with finding the vaccination cure for the Cordyceps infection. She and her father were both evidently a part of the Fireflies, living in Salt Lake City when her father began to actively work on research for a vaccine to end the infection. Tragically, however, her father was murdered by Joel Miller when he was breaking Ellie out of the hospital, which instantly sent her on a vicious quest for vengeance.

After the Fireflies disbanded following the deaths of both Abby's father and Marlene, Abby joined the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) in Seattle. Her rage crafted her into a tough and well-respected soldier of the WLF, eventually earning her a place as a leader amongst their group. All the while, she continued to spend those years looking for leads on Joel's whereabouts to follow through on her quest for vengeance. Five years later, she finally got one that she could see through, which kickstarts her story in The Last of Us Part II.

Is Abby A Villain In The Last Of Us Season 2?

She's A Very Complex Character

The question of whether Abby is a villain or not in The Last of Us is a complex one. While Abby is intentionally meant to be seen as a villain in the first half of the story, she ends up taking a transformative journey that changes her in the eyes of the audience. It's as yet unknown whether The Last of Us season 2 will double down on Abby as a villain and save her redemption for another season or if it will spark the beginning of this change for her, but either way, Abby ought to function much more as an antagonist in The Last of Us season 2 than a true villain.

Kaitlyn Dever Plays Abby In The Last Of Us TV Show: What Else She's Been In

Dever Is Well-Equipped To Tackle Abby's Character

Kaitlyn Dever's best movies and TV shows prove that she is more than ready to tackle the role of Abby in The Last of Us season 2. Dever has appeared in a wide variety of projects, with her most notable role to date having been Amy in 2019's Booksmart. Before then, on TV, she made her first big appearances in recurring roles in Justified as Loretta McCready and in Last Man Standing as Eve Baxter. Dever was even in the running to portray Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us adaptation, but she was ultimately beat out by Bella Ramsey.

How Kaitlyn Dever's Abby Compares To The Game Version

There Isn't Much To Go Off Of Just Yet

Little has been seen of Dever's Abby thus far, but it seems that Dever's interpretation truly embodies the same sense of desperate rage that engulfs her throughout The Last of Us Part II. It can be seen in her eyes with the single look she gives in The Last of Us season 2 trailer, an expression that struggles to hide both the pain and the anger that has consumed her ever since her father's death. It's hard to tell just yet, but it seems that Dever's version lacks some of Abby's characteristic physical strength, though this is difficult to confirm.

What Happens To Abby In The Last Of Us

Her Journey Isn't An Easy One

Abby takes quite the journey in The Last of Us Part II. Her quest for vengeance ends up being successful, with her finding Joel Miller and killing him in front of Ellie. This, however, doesn't end up satisfying the emptiness within Abby that was left behind in the wake of her father's death. She still has a lot to reckon with, specifically her harsher nature that has developed ever since her father's death and has led her to take on some rather hypocritical views. When a pair of siblings save her life from an enemy of the WLF, Abby tasks herself with protecting them.

Abby ends up taking a journey that's, in a way, similar to Joel's in The Last of Us. She's able to overcome the grief of her father's death by protecting those she cares about, particularly the one sibling named Lev. While her vengeance does return on different occasions, particularly whenever Abby crosses paths with Ellie again after Joel's death, she eventually comes to accept what happened and to take a more humble standpoint on that old history. She barely survives The Last of Us Part II, but continues on a hopeful path from that point forward.

Just how much of this story will be told in The Last of Us season 2 alone is left to be seen, but it certainly seems as if Abby and her story will continue beyond this season. Her character will no doubt become an integral part of the TV show, just as it did in the video game sequel. Her complex character will add a refreshing edge to HBO's The Last of Us, providing a unique kind of parallel to Joel and Ellie even after the former's inevitable fate - and changing everything everyone thinks they know about this story as it currently stands.