The Last of Us Season 2’s Finale Cuts Season 3’s Most Important Character

The characters in The Last of Us like to keep things close to the vest. After all, the world isn’t a very nice place, and when it’s hard to determine who is a friend and a foe, it’s a good idea not to trust anyone. Joel has to get Ellie onboard with that line of thinking during Season 1, as she’s quick to trust people she believes are in need. However, Joel has seen what happens when one’s guard is let down, and he won’t let something happen to Ellie because she still has some of her humanity left. Abby is very much the same way in Season 2, trusting only the friends she has from her days as a Firefly.

It’s hard to blame Abby because she loses her father after the Fireflies trust a man they hardly know to bring the most important person in the world across the country, and he betrays them. Abby takes her pain and uses it as motivation to find Joel and kill him. But what she doesn’t realize is that, by doing that, she’s kicking off a series of events that will lead her to make an unexpected ally.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II game!

Ellie Force Abby’s Hand in The Last of Us Season 2

When Abby kills Joel, she and her friends truly believe their mission is over. They don’t want anyone else to get hurt, so they leave Dina and Ellie alive and head home. Of course, Ellie won’t go down without a fight, with her and Dina formulating a plan and heading to Seattle, where Abby’s group, the Washington Liberation Front, aka the WLF, operates. The duo starts to learn more about the WLF’s war with the Seraphites, a group of religious fanatics who have no qualms about ripping people’s guts out. They try to stay on track, but the conflict swallows them whole, leaving Dina badly hurt and Ellie fighting for her life.

The straw that breaks the camel’s back is Ellie’s confrontation with Owen and Mel. While looking for Abby, she comes across the couple and kills them both after Owen tries to grab his gun. Ellie hates what she’s become, especially after learning that Mel is pregnant, so she’s ready to go home when Tommy and Jesse show up. Ellie decompresses a bit while they pack up the theater, but a noise in the other room grabs her and Jesse’s attention. As soon as they enter, Jesse takes a bullet to the head, and Ellie finds Abby standing over Tommy. Abby is upset that Ellie didn’t let Joel’s death go and looks ready to shoot, but she’s not the same character she was at the start of the season, and one character who is seemingly just off-screen deserves credit for that.

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The Last of Us Season 3’s Biggest Addition Should Be Present in Season 2’s Finale

Abby doesn’t look great when she arrives at the theater. She’s dirty and has a neck wound that could only have come from a noose. It seems unlikely that she could’ve tracked Ellie and her friends all the way back to the theater in her condition alone, and that’s because she didn’t. In The Last of Us Part II video game, Abby goes through her own journey in Seattle while Ellie is hunting her down. She comes across a couple of Seraphites who are cast out by their tribe and in need of help. One of them, Lev, grows fond of Abby and helps her whenever possible. They fight all kinds of battles together, and Lev is even present at the theater when Abby confronts Ellie.

Lev doesn’t know much about the situation, but he has Abby’s back and even does serious damage to Ellie’s group. While The Last of Us Season 2 opts to save all that for Season 3, it’s impossible not to feel Lev’s presence during the finale even if they’re not physically on screen. With most of Abby’s friends dead, he’s all she has left to fight for, and, as her attitude in the theater proves, she won’t let Ellie or anyone else take anything else from her.

The Last of Us Season 2 is streaming on HBO Max.

Did you think Abby got to the theater by herself in The Last of Us Season 2? Are you excited for Lev to show up in Season 3? Let us know in the comments below!