Before Joining The Last of Us as Abby, Kaitlyn Dever “Fell in Love” With the Franchise Years Ago While Playing the Game With Her Dad

Kaitlyn Dever has been cast as Abby in ‘The Last of Us’ TV show’s season 2. That’s something every fan is already aware of. However, they might not be aware of one major fact. The actress who will play Abby in the series has a deeper connection with Naughty Dog and its iconic post-apocalyptic video game franchise.

The Last of Us season 2 will bring back all the key cast members like Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin will continue to be the showrunners. The first season heavily focused on the events of 2013’s first PlayStation installment. Season 2 will be inspired by 2020’s sequel TLOU Part II. The latter had also introduced Abby’s character. After a long wait, her live-action version has also found the actress in Kaitlyn Dever.

Kaitlyn Dever has been an ardent gamer of ‘The Last of Us’ series

The actress appeared in an interview back in 2020 after her stupendous performance in the Netflix miniseries Unbelievable. That’s when she spilled the beans on her secret passion for video games, especially ‘The Last of Us’.

While talking to The Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Kaitlyn Dever revealed how much she was a fan of the PlayStation series. When told about fans casting her as Ellie for a future live-action adaptation, she said that she was “a huge fan of the game, and I don’t know if a lot of people know that but I’m saying it now. I am a huge fan of that video game“.

“It is a beautiful story. It’s just a wonderful narrative and I fell in love with that game when it came out,” said Kaitlyn Dever while admiring The Last of Us. Continuing further, she added that she had already played 2013’s first part of Naughty Dog. “I played it with my dad and we just had the best time“.

On a side note, she mentioned being a little inaccurate while aiming her shots in combat sequences. “

I’m not very good at it I’m not. My aim is really bad“. However, she said that she was trying to improve and get “better at playing“.

Touching upon her previous experiences with Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann (creator of The Last of Us games), Kaitlyn revealed that she was part of 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. She had done the voice and motion capture work for Cassie Drake (daughter of protagonist Nathan Drake).

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Strangely, though, when Kaitlyn was asked regarding the fan casting of Joel for the live-action version, she brought up Hugh Jackman’s name. It was simply due to the fact that his name was trending back then for the role. “I have seen the fan casts of Hugh Jackman as Joel. I like that“, said the actress while expressing her thoughts.

Fast forward to 2024, the TV show has got its Joel in Pedro Pascal. With Kaitlyn’s inclusion as Abby, it will be interesting to see their anticipated face-off in Season 2 – for obvious reasons.

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