Summary
The Last of Uscreator Craig Mazin has addressed why the show didn’t follow the gaming franchise and changed the physical appearance of Abby Anderson in Season 2 of the HBO series.
The HBO show returned for its second season on April 13th and premiered a gripping episode to lay a strong foundation for the things to come. Apart from showing what’s happening in the lives of Joel and Ellie, the episode also featured Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, a menacing character in the game,The Last of Us Part II.However, there’s a lot of difference in how the character looks in the game and how she looks in the series. The makers didn’t show Abby as someone who was physically imposing and had a lot of muscles. Without any guesses, a certain section of fans didn’t like what they saw, but it seems, Mazin always had an idea about how he wanted to show Abby in the second edition ofThe Last of Us.
The Last of Us Showrunner didn’t feel “obliged” to showcase Abby’s physical prowess in the HBO series
In thefirst episode ofThe Last of Uspodcast, Mazin and co-creator Neil Druckmann discussed the visual differences between the character Abby in the video game series and the television adaptation. While talking about Dever’s casting in the series, Mazin made it clear that they weren’t obliged to show Abby as physically menacing as she was in the game. He highlighted the sense of power Abby provides the player in the game. Moreover, he believed that when gameplay shifts between characters, those characters need to have different methods of interacting with the game, and that’s precisely the approach makers took with the show’s portrayal of Abby. Meanwhile, Mazin reassured fans that they will see the “relentlessness” of Abby as the season progresses.
Mazin: Well, we didn’t feel like we were obliged to fully represent the same body shape that Abby has. There is a power that Abby gives you in the game as you’re playing her, and as Neil said, something that was so interesting to me as a game designer that I didn’t really think about much as a player. I just experienced it. Which is that when you’re playing somebody and you then shift over and play somebody else, they need to have different methods of… different.
Druckmann: Different physicality.
Mazin: Different physicality, different ways to attack, different ways you have to, so when you’re Joel, you feel one way, when you’re Ellie, you feel different. And you play differently, you’re more scared because you’re smaller, and you don’t quite have the Joel-ness about you. And it was smart to make Abby different in that play style than, say, Ellie. But again, we don’t have gameplay. So, to me, the key was to find a certain ferocity and a relentlessness. And I think you’ll see. some of that as the season goes on, and certainly as we go forward with the show.
In the game, Abby was in a rage after she got to know about her father’s death and who killed him. As soon as she found that it was Joel, she lost the sense of calmness in her life and just wanted to avenge her father’s death, andwanted her friends to help her. For that, she traveled to different places in the hope of finding Joel and killing him. The premiere ofThe Last of UsSeason 2 featured a similar narrative and found Abby mourning the death of her father. During her conversation with the remaining members of the Fireflies, she made it clear that she wants to find Joel and kill him, slowly. Although the rest of the episode primarily focuses on Joel, Ellie, and Dina, fans did see Abby inching closer to Jackson, Wyonming, in the final few minutes of the premiere.
WhileAbby’s imposing physique was a defining trait in the game, altering her physicality for the show can serve several narrative purposes. Focusing less on sheer muscularity allows for a deeper exploration of her inner strength, resilience, and emotional complexities. By casting someone like Dever in the role, the show can emphasize Abby’s vulnerability and the psychological toll of her experiences, making her a more relatable and multifaceted character. Additionally, making Abby more mentally strong doesn’t diminish her power, but actually reframes it, suggesting that dominance can be in several other forms and go beyond physical dominance. It would be interesting to see how brutal Abby will get when she gets her hands on Joel and Ellie. In the game, Abby’s sequences with Joel were ferocious, and fans would love to see the same kind of ferocity on their screens.
The first episode ofThe Last of UsSeason 2 is streaming exclusively on MAX.
