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Fans of The Last Of Us may have seen this coming from a mile away, but the news has now been confirmed: Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) will be the star of Season 3.
On Monday night during an FYC screening for Season 2 — which took a massive hit in the ratings after Season 1’s somewhat surprise success — series co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin appeared alongside cast members including Bella Ramsey, Isabela Merced, Gabriel Luna, and Young Mazino, as well as Dever, who appeared virtually while in Australia on another project.
During the Q&A portion, moderated by It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Welcome to Wrexham star Rob McElhenney, Mazin and Druckmann spoke about staying true to the original source material by killing off Joel (Pedro Pascal), early in the season. In the game that inspires the series, Joel is killed by Abby at the very beginning of The Last Of Us 2 and the story ultimately comes back around to Abby’s character and her point-of-view.
“The decisions are just what the story required, and even now, it’s like I can’t believe that they let us structure the series in this way,” said Druckmann, defending the choice to kill off Pascal’s beloved character. “Meaning like we just ended Season 2, and Season 3 is going to be starring — spoiler alert — Kaitlyn.”
Dever, who feigned surprise as the show’s creators spilled the beans on what was already pretty obvious to fans of the game, chimed in with a sarcastic “What?” and a laugh as the audience joined in with their own chuckles. The announcement
“Kaitlyn, have you closed your deal yet?” joked McElhenney, “You just got a ton of leverage.”
As mentioned, it’s no surprise to fans who all but assumed Season 3 would take place from Abby’s perspective given the show’s close relationship to the game. While Dever’s character is certainly a controversial one in both versions, it does sound like the show’s leaders are planning to stick close to the original story, even if HBO might prefer a less debated outcome.
“I was sure that they wouldn’t let us do this when we started adapting this, but they’ve leaned into what makes, I believe, the story special,” said Druckmann, who is also the creator of the video game version of the story.”And allowed us not only the time but the creative freedom to be able to take these swings, and I think the audience really appreciates that.”
No word yet on when Season 3 of The Last Of Us will premiere on HBO.
The first two seasons of The Last Of Us are now streaming on Max.
