The Last of Us Season 2 casts Kaitlyn Dever in key role of Abby

HBO has confirmed that Kaitlyn Dever has been cast as Abby in the second season of The Last of Us.

For many months, there had been speculation about who would be playing the key role, and last year’s actors and writers strikes only prolonged the announcement. The sophomore season of the PlayStation video game adaptation is the first of multiple planned seasons that will adapt The Last of Us Part II, in which Abby features as a major character. We won’t spoil her role in the game, but suffice it to say that her journey is deeply connected to both Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey).

Dever is a strong get for the series, having received significant acclaim for both comedic and dramatic performances in the likes of Short Term 12, Booksmart and last year’s No One Will Save You. In the television space, she’s netted two Golden Globe nominations for Netflix’s Unbelievable and Hulu’s Dopesick, as well as an Emmy nod for the latter series.

Notably, this isn’t Dever’s first time working with The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann. She portrayed Nathan Drake’s daughter Cassie in the epilogue of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which Druckmann co-wrote and co-directed. Amusingly, she also once auditioned for the role of Ellie for the series and even did a table read for the role.

In the video game space, Dever also co-stars alongside Felicity‘s Keri Russell in this year’s Open Roads, a new interactive movie from Annapurna Interactive and the creators of Gone Home. 

Production on The Last of Us Season 2 is set to begin in Vancouver in February. The first season of The Last of Us is streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada.

Image credit: HBO/PlayStation

Source: HBO