Following an explosive and highly popular first series, HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 is almost upon us. Set to premiere on the 13th of April, the sequel season based on Naughty Dog’s controversial Part II is likely to spark up even more discourse than the first. Unlike 2020’s masterpiece however, HBO’s adaptation has made one key decision which – if handled well – could not only serve to build upon the theming of the game itself, but also function as a different way to tell the same message. That being the casting of Kaitlyn Dever as Abby.
To explain why such a casting choice is so impactful, we have to go back…way back. Prior to the release of Season 1 in 2022 or Part II in 2020 – or even before the ‘next-gen’ version of The Last of Us Remastered in 2014 – Sony announced that they were officially working on a film adaptation based on Naughty Dog’s latest and highly successful new IP.
Little else was known at the time, with one of the few details shared being that it would directly involve Naughty Dog as producers alongside famed director Sam Raimi (who of course worked on Sony’s Spider-Man Trilogy). With not much else to go off, fans of the game started to do what fans do: casting for the film.
At the time, there were three leading selections respectively which rose above the rest when it came to who fans were hoping to see play the iconic roles of Joel and Ellie.
For Joel, there was Wolverine’s own Hugh Jackman; Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of Game of Thrones fame and last but not least King Leonidas himself, Gerard Butler.
When it came to fan-casting Ellie, there was the obvious choice at the time, that being Elliot Page – whose likeness to Ellie upon the initial reveal of TLOU sparked a legal response from Page. While the final design for Ellie was tweaked ahead of launch, Page still resembled the character quite a bit, and thanks to a number of film roles where he’s played the spunky sidekick, the selection was understandable.
The second actor fans had been hopeful for was Maisie Williams. While she didn’t necessarily look like Ellie, aesthetics are but one small part of an actor’s hiring. Couple this up with Williams’ popularity at the time, the connection to Game of Thrones and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as well as the fact that she shares the same last name as Ellie and there were plenty of reasons as to why Maisie Williams could’ve worked.
Raimi and co. seemed to think so as she was said to have been in talks with Sony at the time for the role, though of course the film adaptation never came to be – but I’m getting ahead of myself a bit here.
The final notable fan-casting was for Kaitlyn Dever. While a relatively small name in the industry at the time, she had proven herself capable and as such had started to land on an increasing number of fans’ radars.
More so than anything however, Kaitlyn Dever’s name came up time and time again due to her in many ways resembling Ellie’s final design more accurately than even Elliot Page.
Again, how an actor looks is just a tiny factor in actually casting someone for a role. That being said, when it comes to fan casts however, aesthetics tend to rise to the top of people’s priorities.
And so, with the original film adaptation of The Last of Us, it was clear that the two top choices in the eyes of fans were Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Joel and Kaitlyn Dever as Ellie. Unfortunately, following years of little to no news, Sony officially canned their film plans for The Last of Us making all of this a moot point – or is it? You see, this is where things get interesting.
Before going ahead, I just want to state that I will try to refrain from any spoilers for TLOU Part II, aside from the acknowledgement that Abby is the game’s antagonist and Ellie the protagonist (a fact which has been illustrated in many trailers for both Part II and Season 2).
With that being said, over a decade on from the original fan-castings and with the hotly-anticipated Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us mere weeks away, fans’ hopes and dreams for Kaitlyn to be cast in the live-action adaptation is coming to fruition – except instead of Ellie, Dever is taking the role of Abby.
Obviously Dever wasn’t going to take over from Bella Ramsey’s excellent portrayal in the first Season, but to cast her as Abby in particular sends an interesting message.
We all know that Druckmann and co. have a heavy hand in the development of the show, with many small but notable changes being made from the source material in order to fit the medium. The same applies to Season 2 – perhaps even more so thanks to the success of the first series – and so it’s safe to conclude that the casting of Kaitlyn Dever was no mere coincidence. Why does this matter? Well, let’s get into it.
Whether it be due to legitimate or illegitimate reasons, reactions towards Abby both prior to and following the release of TLOU Part II were visceral, with some ‘fans’ even going so far as to send death threats and more to the character’s voice actor.
Such actions are in no way condonable regardless of how much you despise a fictional character; and while violence is an easy and cheap method to express your feelings, it does unfortunately serve as a strong way for people to voice their opinions – and people had OPINIONS.
While I personally love The Last of Us Part II and the narrative that it tells, I acknowledge that some players ultimately walked away from the experience with a different opinion on the events that unfurled. That’s perfectly fine, as long as these opinions come from a place of good faith.
All this is to say that Abby is not only a polarising character, but perhaps one of the most polarising in video game history.
With all that context in mind, why would anyone want to play one of the most hated video game characters of all time? Well, aside from being a major part of one of the biggest and most celebrated shows in recent memory, it appears as though Druckmann, Mazin and co. have a grand plan on how to handle the highly controversial Abby; neither in a better nor worse way – but in a different way.
When you play a game, quite often you will inherit the mind of the character which you are playing, be it due to the time you’ve spent as them, the inherent connection through direct interactivity or just some damn good writing. Through a combination of these and more, many players wound up holding Ellie and Joel close to their hearts, and so naturally anyone who opposes them would be viewed negatively as a result.
This is what came to be with the introduction of Abby in Part II. A direct contrast to Ellie in many ways – but especially aesthetically – fans found it easy to hate a character who looks so drastically different to the protagonist which they’ve come to know and love.
Tackling this challenge was one of Naughty Dog’s greatest tasks for TLOU Part II, and in my eyes, it worked perfectly. My own analysis and interpretation of each scene matched the intentions of the creators, and so their messaging was made clear to me.
Unfortunately, not everyone was swayed by what Naughty Dog were trying to say. And so what do you do when a piece of media has been co-opted by a group who do not understand the message that was being told? Well you do a Joker 2: Folie Deux of course, but the correct way. Not really, but also yes.
While the showrunners have already explained why Dever isn't bulking up for the role of Abby, there’s no denying that the character’s stature and musculature played a major role in both the narrative and gameplay of Part II.
Yes, the show’s second Season won’t be as action-heavy as the game it’s based on due to wanting to focus more on the narrative and characters, as TV shows are not an interactive medium. This makes sense and on its own could be enough of a reason for Druckmann to justify this creative change, however, I believe there is much more going on.
So, what do I think Druckmann’s grand plan is? Well, given how split players were on Abby in The Last of Us Part II (due to story reasons, gameplay implications and even just the fact that she is a very buff woman), I feel as though Season 2 will instead represent a telling of the story’s themes using a different tactic.
I’m sure that regardless of how Abby looked, Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us would have undoubtedly faced less backlash from viewers. This is because ‘Gamers’ are a fickle bunch and can get caught on particular details irrespective of context – leading to the aforementioned anger/vitriol referenced above.
For those who did not understand (or chose not to) the thematic relationship between Ellie and Abby, Druckmann seems intent on making sure that the message goes through this time.
Not only are fans of The Last of Us going to see an Ellie who looks nothing like her game version go up against Abby in HBO’s upcoming season, but will be doing so against an actor who looks more like Ellie than Ellie herself.
In making this choice, Druckmann is forcing ‘fans’ of the game to reflect on their first interpretation of Part II’s lessons through subtle yet (literally) in-your-face tactics.
Those who already enjoyed the game were going to like Season 2 regardless, and those who have not played the series will be none-the-wiser when it comes to the subconscious inception which Druckmann, Mazin and the rest have cooked up for the rest. Will it work out? We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll be crying my eyes out regardless when…[REDACTED].
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KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to Season 2? What’s your take on this theory? Was the casting intentional? Let us know your thoughts down below.
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KitGuru Games: The Genius Casting of Kaitlyn Dever in HBO’s The Last of Us first appeared on
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