Who Is Abby in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2? Everything Fans Should Know About the Character and Actress

Abby Anderson (Kaitlyn Dever) made her highly-anticipated debut in season 2 of The Last of Us and she’s already got fans in an uproar following one shocking scene.

In Touch rounds up everything important to know about Abby and the actress who plays her.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for season 2!

Who Is Abby in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2?

Abby is a former member of the Fireflies who becomes obsessed with getting revenge on Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) after the death of her father, Dr. Jerry Anderson.

She later joins the Washington Liberation Front (also known as the WLF or the Wolves), a paramilitary group formed to oppose FEDRA (Federal Disaster Response Agency) after it took control of the U.S. government and declared martial law following the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak. The WLF initially fought for better conditions for those living in FEDRA-controlled quarantine zones, but eventually sought to take control of Seattle, Washington, themselves.

Who Plays Abby in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2?

Kaitlyn Dever is a talented young actress known for her work as Zoe Murphy in the film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, Amy in Booksmart and Eve Baxter in Last Man Standing.

She also had a recurring role in Justified and has appeared in a wide array of films, including The Spectacular Now, Beautiful Boy, No One Will Save You and Ticket to Paradise.

Inside Abby’s Relationship With Joel in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2

Abby was only 19 years old when Joel stormed into that hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, to take Ellie (Bella Ramsey), killing her father and several members of the Fireflies in the process and essentially forcing the rebel group to disband.

While Joel only did it to save Ellie from certain death, Abby became blinded by rage and grief and embarked on a mission to find and kill Joel – which she eventually did, roughly five years later.

“18 soldiers and one doctor. You remember that one? An unarmed doctor, you shot in the head,” she told Joel in the second episode of The Last of Us season 2. “That was my dad – guess you probably already figured. The nurses said you barely even looked at him when you pulled the trigger and then you just walked right past his body and out the door.”

She beats Joel brutally with a golf club before using a broken piece of it to stab him in the neck.

Inside Abby’s Relationship With Ellie in ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2

Following Joel’s murder, Ellie swears that she will kill Abby and her friends for their roles in his death.

It’s assumed that, at this point in the show, Abby does not realize who Ellie is – the girl who was taken in by the Fireflies to be studied due to her immunity to the Cordyceps brain infection. She only associates her as a former friend to Joel.

Kaitlyn Dever’s Thoughts About Abby in ‘The Last of Us’ TV Show

The video game version of Abby in The Last of Us: Part II is known for her intense anger and her formidable stature – but according to Kaitlyn, who does not have the body type that Abby had in the game, she believes that her character is “so much more than her rage.”

“We are given that space to explore her emotion,” she explained in an April 2025 interview with IGN. “And I think that what’s different about the show is that we are given a little bit more context to Abby when we first meet her.”

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly that same month, she pointed out that, emotionally speaking, Abby has “been through hell.”

“I wanted to make sure that was shown,” she added. “You only have a short amount of time to be able to show that, really.”