Kaitlyn Dever needed extra security on ‘The Last of Us’ set — here’s why

Abby is one of the most hated characters in video game history.

By Joe Allen Updated August 16, 2024

Kaitlyn Dever at the Ticket to Paradise world premiere. — Shutterstock

There’s fan backlash, and then there’s what happened around the release of The Last of Us: Part 2. The game was characterized by severe hate from fans, specifically around the character of Abby, a muscular, capable woman who was seen as too masculine by some fans, who also wrongly assumed that she was a trans character based on leaks.

Now, Kaitlyn Dever is attempting to translate that character to live-action for season 2 of The Last of Us TV show, and the backlash has apparently translated right alongside her. According to Dever’s co-star on the second season Isabella Merced, Dever required extra security on set to protect her from a particularly aggravated group of fans.

“There’s so many strange people in this world because there are people that actually genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person,” Merced explained during an appearance on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “Kaitlyn had to be extra secured by security when it came to the filming of this.”

Merced added that she was confused by the hatred in part because Neil Druckmann, the creator of the games, was also working on the TV show. “What confuses me is the showrunner and creator of the video game, they work together to make this, so if you like what the guy made and he’s making more of it, why are you mad?” Merced said. “I’m too opinionated to be on Twitter. I see this stuff on Twitter, and it makes me want to go Cardi B on them.”

Abby is one of the more controversial video game characters in history, and it seems like that hatred may not go anywhere in the new season.

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Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…

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