Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) was the fan favorite choice to play Ellie in The Last of Us, but she ended up getting too old and Bella Ramsey got the role. Funnily enough, though Dever didn’t land Ellie, she did get someone who is pretty much her series nemesis.
As per Max, Dever has officially been cast in the second season of The Last of Us as Abby Anderson. Here’s the post:
Kaitlyn Dever has joined the cast of the HBO Original series #TheLastofUs for Season 2. @TheLastofUsHBO pic.twitter.com/dFnhGsJ1x2
— Max (@StreamOnMax) January 9, 2024
We don’t know how much of Abby’s story is going to be covered in the second season, but I have a feeling that the show could very much just follow Abby’s story after the events of Joel’s massacre at the hospital and the build-up to her going to Jackson.
I honestly don’t want to spoil anything about the character in the series, but anyone who was online when the game dropped knows that Abby was pretty much the target of online vitriol that wasn’t unlike what Kelly Marie Tran was receiving after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Already fans are hoping that Dever doesn’t receive any of that same backlash once she gets cast in the role, but I think the series is going to be telling a different approach when it comes to Abby’s story, and we could very much be on her side by the time she crosses Ellie’s path in the show.
No release date has been set for the second season of The Last of Us, but we can probably expect it sometime early 2025.