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Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us introduces characters from The Last of Us: Part II the game, including Abby. The character generated a lot of heated discussion when the game came out in 2020, and the expectation is that the cycle will repeat itself with Abby on the TV show. Isabela Merced, who plays Dina in Season 2, responded to the backlash against Abby, saying in an interview, “there are so many strange people in this world.” She also reminded people that Abby, who is played by Kaitlyn Dever on the show, can’t hurt you because she is not real. Merced also revealed that Dever received extra security detail during filming.
“There are people who actually genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person. Just a reminder. Not a real person,” Merced said in an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
She went on to say that Abby actress Kaitlyn Dever had to have a larger security detail when it came to filming The Last of Us Season 2. Laura Bailey, who played Abby in the video game, received death threats and other forms of abuse, even threats against her newborn child.
“So Kaitlyn had to be extra-secured by security when it came to the filming of this. Kaitlyn is such a cool person who just does not get phased by things and has her head in the right place,” Merced said.
Dever was filming The Last of Us Season 2 as she herself enduring a personal tragedy with the death of her mother earlier this year from breast cancer.
“Give her the damn Emmy. I’m so excited for people to see how incredibly well [Ellie actor Bella Ramsey] and Kaitlyn did on this. I’m so excited,” Merced said.
Also in the interview, Merced responded to backlash against the TV show in general, saying she doesn’t understand why people are so upset.
“The showrunner [Craig Mazin] and the creator of the video game [Neil Druckmann], they work together to make this. So if you like what the guy made, and he’s making more of it, why are you mad?” Merced said. “I’m too opinionated to be on Twitter. I see this stuff and it makes me want to go Cardi B on them.”
The Last of Us Season 2 premieres in 2025. It will have seven episodes, compared to nine for Season 1. The series is expected to continue with a third season, but it hasn’t been officially announced yet.
As for the game series, Naughty Dog has heavily teased The Last of Us: Part III.
“I’ve been thinking–is there a concept there [for The Last of Us 3]? For, now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept. But recently that’s changed,” Druckmann said in an interview published in February 2024. “I don’t have a story. But I do have that concept that is, to me, as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2,” he said. “As its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”
