“When I first read that, I was like, ‘Jesus Christ!
Kaitlyn Deverfeels a sense of relief.
Now that the big secret’s out, though, she doesn’t have to anymore.
Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Pedro Pascal as Joel on ‘The Last of Us’ season 2.Credit:Liane Hentscher/HBO
“I can relax a little.”
“I had laryngitis, too, when I did that scene.
So it was so intense,” Dever recalls.
Kaitlyn Dever for EW’s ‘The Last of Us’ season 2 cover shoot.Gina Gizella Manning
“But, yeah, it was a really sad scene.
It broke my heart to have to shoot that.”
“That allows you to literally step inside Abby’s brain.
It just encapsulates everything that she’s feeling for that scene that comes after.
She so badly wants her old life back.
She so badly wants the situation to not be what it is.
I think that’s really, really powerful.”
Then the game shifts.
Not so much with TV.
Kaitlyn Dever for EW’s ‘The Last of Us’ season 2 cover story.Gina Gizella Manning
“It would probably get spoiled between seasons, and we didn’t want that.
Dreams are a recurring thing, Druckmann now tells EW.
This was a nice evolution of that idea of seeing how it’s eating away at her.
Kaitlyn Dever discusses the scene with ‘The Last of Us’ director Mark Mylod.Liane Hentscher/HBO
“Those two people are so different,” she explains.
“I have a larger perspective now on what grief really feels like.
“So I was sort of in a fog.
Kaitlyn Dever for EW’s ‘The Last of Us’ season 2 cover shoot.Gina Gizella Manning
I was in a daze.”
Watching her own work as the two Abbys now as an audience member, Dever feels very different.
“I just feel like I’ve been through such a battle,” she continues.
But, emotionally, she’s been through hell.
And I wanted to ensure that was shown.
You only have a short amount of time to be able to show that, really.”
In the minutes before Abby kills Joel, she tells him everything thats been weighing on her.
What is important for her to convey is that what he did was wrong.
I do love how Pedro portrayed this kind of acceptance of it there.
The truth is, what he did is what she’s doing now.
We kill for the people we love.
When I first read that, I was like, ‘Jesus Christ!
I was able to sort of… Of course, Abby’s suffering doesn’t end when she kills Joel.
They then pack up their supplies and file out of the room to begin the long trek back home.
It’s that moment in the snow, Dever says, you should pay attention to.
“We get just a sliver of this at the very end.
Maybe this is something that people will notice or not,” she explains.
So moving forward for Abby, we get to see how that manifests for her.”
