I couldn't be more excited about how close The Last of Us' Season 2 premiere is to arriving on the 2025 TV schedule, even if it means getting closer to all the nasty ass clickers and stalkers and other monstrous threats still thriving in this post-apocalyptic environment. Kaitlyn Dever's new character Abby will certainly be thriving as the live-action incarnation of TLOU: Part II's highly polarizing antagonist. Just don't expect TV Abby to be rocking big biceps.
When HBO's upcoming video game adaptation returns to its rabid fanbase, one of the key differences that gamers will notice is that Dever did not take on any Dwayne Johnson-level workout plans to bulk up to the size that Abby is in the source material. According to game director and live-action co-creator Neil Druckmann, that detail wasn't viewed as necessary for a one-to-one comparison. As he put it to EW:
We value performance over anything else. We need someone to really capture the essence of those characters.... We don't value as much, 'Do they look exactly like the character with their eyebrows or their nose or their body?' Whatever it is. It's not nowhere on the priority list, but it's below a bunch of other things that we consider.
As anyone who paid attention to the casting for Season 1 can attest, fans were initially on both sides of the opinion aisle when Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were cast to bring the all-important Joel and Ellie relationship to life. But both actors proved their worth in the initial nine episodes, as did everyone else that was brought in, from Merle Dandridge reprising her game character Marlene to Melanie Lynskey playing the original villain Kathleen.
Personally, I like that Neil Druckmann and fellow creator Craig Mazin were more interested in stellar performances over casting someone who may have looked exactly like Abby but fell short by way of sheer talent. It's always great when someone can pull off the look while also delivering an award-worthy performance, but beggars can't be choosers.
Craig Mazin On How The Change In Size Changes Up Ellie And Abby's Dynamic
This change-up between characters isn't just about aesthetics and/or fulfilling the role's high expectations, either. According to Mazin, the difference between Dever's character and the digital Abby will also inform narrative-specific differences between the antagonist and Ramsey's Ellie. In his words:
I personally think that there is an amazing opportunity here to delve into someone who is perhaps physically more vulnerable than the Abby in the game, but whose spirit is stronger. And then the question is, ‘Where does her formidable nature come from and how does it manifest?’ That's something that will be explored now and later.
I could spend a while talking about Mazin's use of "now and later" at the end there, but I'd rather put the focus on the general idea that the live-action Ellie and Abby will be more physically equal, which would definitely seem to give our teen hero the advantage. After all, one of the reasons why Abby comes across as so hardcore in the games is due to her physique and the strength with which she can swing a golf club, among other weapons.
So without extra bulk to give Abby the upper hand on the HBO series, that just means Kaitlyn Dever's version will have to fall back on other traits — perhaps flashes of unbridled fury and violence — to justify the character's sense of authority within her group, as well as to justify the idea of her being a legitimate threat to both Ellie and Joel.
I was already sold with Dever's casting to begin with, but I love knowing that the specifics of her casting immediately presented a meaningful tweak for characters that are otherwise familiar. Of course, we'll have to wait until April to see how this upcoming horror series delivers the goods.
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