The Last of Us season 2 changes Abby's introduction for an important reason

18 April 2025, 11:28

The Last of Us Season 2: Abby's introduction has been changed for a very specific reason. Picture: HBO

By Katie Louise Smith

"If we were to stick to a very similar timeline, viewers would have to wait a very, very long time to get that context."

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After years of waiting, The Last of Us season 2 has finally introduced Abby Anderson – and if you've played the game, you'll know what that means for Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller.

Played in the HBO series by Kaitlyn Dever, Abby is Part II's main antagonist. In the game, Abby is first introduced as a playable character. Players immediately form a connection to her but have no idea what her motives are until later down the line.

However, in the show, the episode opens with Abby and her group standing over the graves of other Fireflies and it's then immediately revealed that she wants to track Joel down and kill him for what he did at the hospital.

Some fans have been left disappointed by the show revealing Abby's plan so early in the show, but there's actually a very key reason why they've made that massive change. [WARNING: Spoilers ahead!]

Kaitlyn Dever's Abby is introduced in a completely different way than the game. Picture: HBO

Why did they change Abby's introduction in The Last of Us?

The Last of Us creator and co-showrunner Neil Druckmann explained that because viewers are unable to literally play as a Abby, her introduction had to be changed to fit the TV medium.

"Where that revelation happens in the game, if we were to stick to a very similar timeline, viewers would have to wait a very, very long time to get that context," he explained during a press conference, per Gold Derby.

"It would probably get spoiled to [viewers] between seasons, and we didn't want that, so it felt appropriate for those reasons to move that up and give the viewer that context right off the bat," he continued.

In an interview with GameSpot, Neil also suggested that if they had stuck to the game's timeline and pacing, viewers would have had to wait until next season to find out what Abby's motives are.

Watch The Last of Us season 2 weeks ahead trailer

Similarly, co-showrunner Craig Mazin told GameSpot: "So much of how you experience Abby is through gameplay, which means it's quite helpful to not quite know why she's doing what she's doing, because you have the benefit of being the person moving her around. And you understand you're going to discover that as her."

"We don't have that in our show and so it felt to us like we probably would be doing a disservice to the audience by holding this information back in a way that might feel just sort of arbitrary."