Abby Actress Kaitlyn Dever Explains Why Her The Last of Us Character Is “So Much More” Than Her Rage

This interrogation contains spoilers for The Last of Us Season 2 and the crippled the bid is adapting.

It seems arsenic if for arsenic agelong arsenic The Last of Us’ Abby has existed, determination has been contention surrounding her character. The Last of Us Part II received polarized reactions from fans, with immoderate adoring its complexities and others despising the crippled and quality truthful overmuch that archetypal Abby dependable histrion Laura Bailey (Critical Role, The Legend of Vox Machina) received decease threats against her and her son. The quality that Kaitlyn Dever had been formed successful the relation for HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation sparked a full caller benignant of drama, with immoderate frustrated by Dever’s stature. In the game, Abby has 2 defining characteristics: her rage and her muscles. According to The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann, the muscles weren’t important for the adaptation. And, according to Kaitlyn Dever, her mentation of Abby is “so overmuch more” than her rage.

In an interrogation with IGN, co-creators Druckmann, Craig Mazin, and Kaitlyn Dever broke down the changes to Abby Anderson arsenic her travel shifts somewhat from the root material.

“Once we formed someone, you can't assistance but spot them similar they go portion of the DNA of this character,” says Druckmann. “Kaitlyn Dever is antithetic from Laura Bailey, who played Abby successful the video game. And that informs a batch of however we deliberation astir the character.”

Outside of her carnal appearance, we haven’t seen a batch of changes to Abby conscionable yet. Though the communicative did displacement the bid of events, offering up the crushed for Abby’s revenge instantly alternatively than revealing her motives gradually passim the story, her traits stay mostly the same. However, that whitethorn not ever beryllium the case.

“A batch of the fundamentals of her are the same, but conscionable similar the infinitesimal to infinitesimal [...] the mean that creates definite changes that, sometimes, person a butterfly effect and the changes go greater implicit time,” Druckmann notes.

For Mazin, it was astir highlighting the cut-scene moments from the crippled that helium felt warranted much time. “How bash you capable that space? What pops out?” helium wonders. “In general, what I deliberation we bash is effort to deepen the complexities and the parts of these characters.” In that aforesaid vein it was “really important” to some Mazin and Druckmann that they “deepen the complexities and the parts of these characters” truthful the assemblage tin truly consciousness what the quality was feeling and unrecorded successful the infinitesimal with them.

As acold arsenic Dever is concerned, it’s those complexities that springiness the amusement the accidental to truly shine. “We are fixed that abstraction to research her emotion,” she says. “She's truthful overmuch much than her rage and anger. And I deliberation that what's antithetic astir the amusement is that we are fixed a small spot much discourse to Abby erstwhile we archetypal conscionable her.”

As we spot successful the opening series of “Through the Valley,” The Last of Us Season 2’s 2nd episode, Dever’s Abby is profoundly and profoundly sad. In her dream, her contiguous aforesaid tries to halt the five-years-earlier mentation from entering the country wherever she volition find her father’s corpse. Her past aforesaid does not perceive and enters the country anyway, resulting successful tears streaming down contiguous Abby’s look arsenic she stands helplessly by, incapable to halt the infinitesimal from happening and incapable to escaped herself from the symptom it caused.

It’s that grief that volition play a pivotal relation successful the adaptation’s Abby, Dever confirms adding that “the amusement talks a batch astir grief successful truthful galore antithetic ways and successful antithetic forms and I deliberation that that's what is astatine the halfway of a batch of these people's storylines and emotions is that exactly.”