‘The Last Of Us’ Season 2 Reportedly Casts Abby Actress, A Surprising Pick

We have just heard that we will not see The Last of Us Season 2 until 2025, a bummer for fans, but the somewhat inevitable result of the WGA/SAG strike that halted production for several months.

But now we have two separate reports, both from high profile insiders, focused on the same actress. Back in November, it was said that Kaitlyn Dever was “poised to win the role of Abby” according to Jeff Sneider, and now this week, a separate insider, Daniel Richtman, says that Dever has now actually been cast, and will play Abby on the show. Between those two, yes, I am starting to be pretty confident this is actually happening.

Kaityln Dever has been a little bit of a confusing rumor for fans, not because of her acting abilities, but because of probably all working actresses she’s a dead ringer for in-game Ellie, a role that instead is played by Bella Ramsey. But interestingly, Dever did actually read for Ellie back during casting.

But with a similar complexion to Abby, a history with those working on the show, being the right age, and again, her acting prowess (check her out in Booksmart, Dopesick and most recently, No One Will Save You), she’s reportedly got the part over other rumored (or fancast) actresses like Shannon Berry or Florence Pugh.

Naturally, her casting brings up the “swole” question, where Abby has tremendous strength and physicality in the game as a weightlifter who tosses Ellie around like she’s nothing. People have been snooping on Dever’s Instagram to see if she’s been “hitting the gym” (she hasn’t posted in a year) and with filming set to begin in February, it seems like that would need to happen sooner rather than later. But the most recent photos of her, like the one above from this fall, would not indicate some sort of big bulk-up plan started recently. Though by filming? Who knows.

I have wondered if The Last of Us will bother forcing its Abby actress, in this case Dever, to get extremely jacked for the part. It may be good enough that she’s simply bigger than Bella Ramsey (who is very tiny). Ramsey is also not going to go through some magical transformation to become lanky, lean and ripped like game Ellie, who she has never resembled in the first place in any way other than personality. And I think that’s what the show cares about the most, if Dever can channel Abby’s unending rage, rather than having the exact bicep circumference of the game model.

I would expect to see an announcement about the casting of Abby and other season 2 actors shortly as we get closer to production, and these leaks are happening anyway. Stay tuned for that, but it really does seem like Dever probably has it.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.