With the first season of The Last of Us, HBO managed to break the curse that had followed video games being adapted into live-action media for years. This was because the creators understood the assignment and didn’t stray too far from the source material while adapting the title from Naughty Dog.
Fans of the game recognized numerous elements taken directly from the title, but Season 1 was also quite accessible for newcomers to the franchise, which made it a hit among the TV and gaming communities.
However, given the dividing controversy that took place due to the brutal narrative of TLoU Part 2, Naughty Dog fans were worried about the arrival of a particularly infamous character in the upcoming Season 2 of HBO’s television series.
Kaitlyn Dever Joins the Cast of The Last of Us Season 2
When the gaming community was introduced to Abby in The Last of Us Part 2, the circumstances made it quite difficult for many to appreciate her existence. Without spoiling anything from the second installment of the game, Naughty Dog took a huge narrative risk with the character, which resulted in a lot of people absolutely loathing her inclusion in the story.
Considering how closely the HBO series followed the source material during Season 1 of its television adaptation, it was inevitable that she would be making her live-action debut in the upcoming second season.
There had been plenty of rumors going around the industry before the official confirmation, but the Max account on X finally announced a few hours ago that Kaitlyn Dever had been recruited for Season 2 of The Last of Us. For those unfamiliar with Dever’s previous work, she has been nominated for numerous television awards in the past, including the Golden Globes and the Emmys, especially for her role in Dopesick.
She has also starred in various critically acclaimed films, including 2019’s Booksmart, so it is safe to say that she has the acting chops to pull off different kinds of roles.
In addition to her professional capabilities, Dever’s casting as Abby in the second season of HBO’s TLoU makes a lot of sense in other ways as well. During the events of Part 2, Ellie is 19 years old, whereas according to a companion art book created by Dark Horse Comics, Abby is in her early 20s.
This falls almost perfectly in line with the television series as well, because currently, Bella Ramsey, who plays the live-action Ellie, is 20 years old, whereas Dever is 27, so the creators of the TV show seem to have nailed the age difference between the two characters.
The Fan Base Seems to Be Divided Over Dever’s Abby Casting
No matter who HBO had picked to play such a controversial and almost hated character, even if it was someone as talented as Dever, the decision was always expected to be met with a lot of divided opinions.
Dever’s casting comes as a much bigger surprise, mainly because quite a few people wanted her to play Ellie when the television series was initially announced.
Even now, some of the replies to Max’s confirmation tweet state that Dever actually looks more like Ellie, as Bella Ramsey’s casting was also met with criticism a couple of years ago.
Where some people like Dever’s casting in TLoU Season 2, there are some who are worried about her receiving backlash and undeserved hate for just playing a character that the community mostly despises. Only time will tell if HBO will still stay faithful to the narrative of the source material or take certain artistic liberties to avoid the fate that Part 2 unfortunately got.
It worked for other characters, like Nick Offerman’s Bill and Storm Reid’s Riley, both of whom recently won Creative Arts Emmy awards for their roles.
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