The following contains ‘The Last of Us’ season 2 spoilers.
Kaitlyn Dever is gearing up to step back into The Last of Us ahead of season 3’s shoot, and she’s already in full “brace yourself” mode. The actor says she’s preparing both mentally and physically for what’s ahead, and for a season where Abby is expected to take up significantly more space.
It’s also a clue as to how season 3 is shaping up tonally. Bigger, heavier, and far more Abby-forward by design. After season 2 shifted the story to Seattle and ended by rewinding time to reframe events, the next chapter looks set to dig deeper into Abby’s perspective rather than rushing headlong into the immediate fallout of that theatre standoff.
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Deadline spoke with Dever this week, and she said she’s “getting mentally and physically prepped right now,” adding, “I go up in a couple days, actually, to start prep over there. I’m so excited to kind of take on a much bigger role in the season.”
Where we left off after season 2’s finale
Season 2 didn’t exactly ease viewers out. Abby confronts Ellie at the theatre base in Seattle, kills Jesse, holds Tommy at gunpoint, and forces Ellie out from hiding, before the screen cuts to black without revealing what happens next.
The final moments then jump to Abby at the WLF’s stadium base as the words “Seattle Day 1” appear onscreen, signalling that the story is about to rewind and replay those days from Abby’s point of view, echoing the structure of The Last of Us Part II.
That shift is something Dever has been openly excited about. “The fans are really going to like it,” she told Deadline. “I think, the shifting perspective onto Abby, getting some more context onto her storyline and going back in time with this season. So, I’m very excited for the fans to see it.”
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Dever filmed season 2 while grieving
If the phrase “mentally and physically prepped” carries extra weight, it’s because Dever has already been candid about how punishing season 2 was to film. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, she revealed she began shooting Abby just three days after her mother’s funeral. Her first major sequence was Abby killing Joel, the Pedro Pascal character who, until then, had anchored the series alongside Ellie.
“It was just a massive scene emotionally, and with blocking, too,” Dever said. “There were so many moving parts and so many things to navigate… To be as honest as possible, I will just say that my days leading up to this scene were horrible.” She also explained, “My mom’s funeral was three days before I did my first day. So I was sort of in a fog. I was in a daze.”
Dever’s mother had battled metastatic breast cancer for 14 years and died in February 2024, just weeks before Dever was scheduled to begin production. Series co-creator Craig Mazin said the team adjusted the schedule to prioritise her wellbeing. “Take your time. Take all the time you need,” Mazin said. “While I care extraordinarily about the show, it’s a TV show. I’m not going to disrupt someone’s grieving process for their own parent, especially with a show that’s partly about the grieving process.”
Dever added that the circumstances changed her usual approach as an actor, and that it ultimately served the character. “Because of my life circumstances, I wasn’t actually able to do my normal routine as an actor,” she said. “I had a different approach, and I think that it really served the character in a lot of ways.”
ALSO CHECK OUT: Jeffrey Wright Talks ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Revisiting Isaac, and the Power of Storytelling — Exclusive Interview
Season 3’s behind-the-scenes changes
Season 3 also arrives with some creative reshuffling. Series and game co-creator Neil Druckmann has stepped back from writing and directing duties but remains involved as a co-creator and executive producer, while Halley Gross has exited her day-to-day responsibilities on the series.
There has also been recent reporting that Manny is being recast after Danny Ramirez dropped out due to a scheduling issue, though a replacement has not yet been announced.
HBO has not confirmed whether season 3 will be the final chapter. What does feel clear is the direction of travel. Abby’s story is about to take up more space, the timeline is folding back on itself, and Dever is preparing for a season that sounds every bit as demanding as what came before.
