We've known for a while now that The Last of Us season 2 will adapt the events of The Last of Us Part II video game, with all signs currently pointing to the story being split across two seasons (no great surprise given the sequel's ambitious scope).
Needless to say, for fans of this franchise, all eyes are on who HBO casts as Abigail "Abby" Anderson. The character remains incredibly divisive - for reasons we won't spoil here - but the role will require a strong actress capable of exploring Abby's complexities in a story arc that's likely to see her go from antagonist to protagonist.
A member of the Fireflies broken by tragedy when Joel Miller killed her father, Jerry Anderson, Abby then makes it her mission to avenge his demise. That brings her into conflict with some familiar faces and what happens next...well, we don't want to talk about it.
In a new story from the Los Angeles Times, there's an update on where things stand with casting Abby.
"Once the series is back in production, key questions abound about the second season, such as who will play Abbie, a new character who is a rival to Ellie," the site explains. "The role has been cast, but [Craig] Mazin isn’t dropping any spoilers, and he won’t address complaints that the first season could have used more scenes with the fungus-headed infected to juice the drama a bit."
So, there you have it, she's been cast.
Before we get to that, though, the full interview is worth checking out, particularly for the showrunner's justification that putting too much of the spotlight on the infected would mean The Last of Us "gets too actiony and you get used to them and they’re no longer scary because they’re there all the time."
"If you can escape the infected 12 times, how scary are they? If you escape them three times over nine episodes, each one of those encounters better be gripping. When it comes to the infected, better to be more like the shark in ‘Jaws’ than the white noise you stop noticing"
Going back to Abby, though, and despite reports Shannon Berry (Hunters) has been cast, it appears Black Widow and Oppenheimer star Florence Pugh was also in the running prior to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. As this scooper points out, one of them must have got it...we're just going to have to wait and see which of them it is!
The Last of Us season 2 doesn't currently have a confirmed premiere date but is unlikely to return until 2025.