The Last of Us Season 2 Report Reveals Fan-Favorite Star in Running to Play Abby

The Last of Us season 2 has apparently chosen a very interesting actress for Abby. The Last of Us is one of the most beloved video game franchises on the planet and a large part of that comes down to the characters. Joel and Ellie are some of the richest characters ever put into a video game and the surrounding cast have a level of depth that many other games can't rival. The first season of the show perfectly adapted both of the leads and set them up perfectly for a very painful second season. Anyone who knows how the second game plays out knows its significantly darker than the first game which puts even more pressure on HBO to nail the casting once more, particularly for the game's antagonist: Abby.

In The Last of Us Part II, Abby is an incredibly strong, brutal, and tactical character. She flips Ellie and Joel's worlds upside down very quickly, but players are also forced to see her perspective for half of the game by playing as her. We will likely see a similar structure in the show, so you need someone who can carry the emotional weight of a character like Abby for likely multiple seasons. With that said, journalist Jeff Sneider claims that Kaitlyn Dever (No One Will Save You, Booksmart) is in talks to play Abby in HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us. A deal has not been inked yet, likely because the actors' strike was just resolved and reads for season 2 were disrupted by the strikes over the summer. The report notes that her performance in No One Will Save You is partially what pushed the creative team behind The Last of Us to move on her.

What's perhaps most interesting about this casting is that Kaitlyn Dever has a remarkable likeness to Ellie in The Last of Us games. She was one of the leading fan casts for Ellie when a film adaptation arose in the mid-2010s. She has also been on Naughty Dog's radar for years as she was cast to play Nathan Drake's daughter in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End in the game's epilogue. Given they landed a pretty big actress for that role, some speculated that Cassie Drake would get to lead her own Uncharted game but that has yet to materialize. Sneider also noted that The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin follows 71 people on Instagram, including Dever. 

When Will The Last of Us Season 2 Release?

As of right now, no firm release date has been given for The Last of Us season 2, but it's expected to start production in the first few months of 2024 (targeting January now, according to reports). It will then aim for a 2025 release window, but we have no idea how much of the second game will be adapted. It's a very dense game and is expected to expand into multiple seasons.