The Last of Us Season 2: Creator Teases Part II's Abby

By Cameron Bonomolo

The Last of Us fans will have to endure and survive the wait for season 2 of the HBO hit, but series co-creator Neil Druckmann is already hinting at a key character from The Last of Us Part II: Abby. In Sunday's first season finale, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) returned to Jackson, Wyoming, after Joel (spoiler alert!) killed the Fireflies to save the bitten-but-immune Ellie from a brain surgery she wouldn't survive, but could cure the Cordyceps infection and end the fungal apocalypse. The consequences of Joel's fateful decision won't play out until The Last of Us season 2, and now Druckmann is hammering home the point in a new image he shared to Twitter.

"Season 2 is already on its way," Druckmann assured fans, tweeting the image of a hammer-wielding forearm that gamers would recognize. "Endure & survive!" HBO has already renewed The Last of Us for a second season after January's series premiere scored the network's second-largest debut behind only Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon.

Who Is Abby in The Last of Us Part II? 

Abby Anderson is a pivotal survivor — both an antagonist and a secondary protagonist — introduced in 2020's The Last of Us Part II, the sequel to 2013's The Last of Us video game. Abby is a former member of Marlene's (Merle Dandridge) Salt Lake City Fireflies faction who goes on to join the Seattle-based Washington Liberation Front, or W.L.F., a militia group at war with the Seraphites religious cult. To reveal why Abby is a central character in Part II is a major spoiler, so be warned: 

Abby is the daughter of Jerry Anderson, the Fireflies surgeon gunned down by Joel before he could remove the Cordyceps from Ellie's brain. A major plot point in Part II sees Abby and the Salt Lake Crew — ex-Fireflies who joined the W.L.F. — seek vengeance against Joel for his rampage at Salt Lake City's St. Mary's Hospital. Read on to find out what happens in The Last of Us Part II.

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(Photo: Naughty Dog)

Who Will Play Abby in The Last of Us Season 2?

Laura Bailey, who provided the motion capture and voice of Abby in The Last of Us Part II, made a secret cameo as a masked operating room nurse in The Last of Us episode 9, "Look for the Light." Bailey joins Troy Baker (video game Joel), Ashley Johnson (video game Ellie), and Jeffrey Pierce (video game Tommy) as Last of Us stars to play new roles in the TV series; Dandridge played Marlene in both the video game and the show.

"Maybe we'll do something else with [Bailey] in the next season," Druckmann said during a virtual press conference. Added series co-creator Craig Mazin, "I mean, she's got a mask on, so we can make her anything we want in the next season."

An Abby actress for season 2 hasn't been announced, but fans have pointed out that actress Shannon Berry — best known for her role as Dot in Amazon series The Wilds — resembles Abby and is followed by Druckmann on Instagram. "I've seen too many people now say I look like Abby from The Last of Us," Berry tweeted in 2020, "and wow they're kind of right."

When Is The Last of Us Season 2 Coming Out?

Both Pascal and Ramsey have revealed The Last of Us season 2 is expected to start shooting later in 2023, meaning the second season won't hit HBO until late 2024 or early 2025.

"It will be a while," Ramsey said in a recent interview of season 2's release window. "I think we'll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next. So it'll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025."

All episodes of The Last of Us are now streaming on HBO Max. Follow for more The Last of Us on ComicBook.

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