{"id":37735,"date":"2025-04-21T07:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/37735\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T07:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T07:27:10","slug":"the-video-game-version-of-abby-thinks-hbo-made-a-wise-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/37735\/","title":{"rendered":"The Video Game Version of Abby Thinks HBO Made a Wise Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Spoilers for the second episode of HBO\u2019s The Last of Us season 2 and the video game The Last of Us Part II follow.<\/p>\n

Laura Bailey still hasn\u2019t seen HBO\u2019s version of that scene. Though the prolific voice actress originated the role of Abby Anderson \u2014 the character played by Kaitlyn Dever in the second season of HBO\u2019s The Last of Us \u2014 she\u2019s as curious as anyone to see how TV audiences react to the big twist that arrives in the first hours of the PlayStation 4 game, where Abby beats The Last of Us protagonist Joel to death with a golf club while Ellie looks on, sobbing.<\/p>\n

Joel\u2019s violent death plays out with very little warning in the video game, which withholds the motivation behind Abby\u2019s rage until around the 12-hour mark. But the HBO drama makes it much clearer, from the very beginning, that Abby and her friends intend to find and murder Joel. For Bailey \u2014 who faced an overwhelming, toxic backlash from a contingent of reactionary gamers for her role The Last of Us Part II \u2014 adding scenes that brace the audience for Joel\u2019s death is a wise choice. \u201cI think that\u2019s why HBO is doing what they\u2019re doing. You\u2019re prepared for it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She knows firsthand the consequences of being at the center of such a jolting twist. \u201cThat was a very rough period of time,\u201d she says. In the weeks following the original video game\u2019s release, Bailey revealed<\/a> she had been targeted by an overwhelming wave of attacks, including death threats against her newborn son. Is she worried Joel\u2019s death in the HBO drama will stir things up again? \u201cA little bit,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Nearly five years removed from the game\u2019s release, Bailey reflects on The Last of Us Part II and everything that came after.<\/p>\n

Did you speak with Kaitlyn Dever about playing Abby?<\/strong>
I didn\u2019t. I don\u2019t think [Ellie actresses Ashley Johnson and Bella Ramsey] really talked either. I know that they\u2019re approaching it from their own angle, you know? I don\u2019t think they want to be overwhelmed with choices that we made, which I totally understand. I\u2019m very excited to see everything that she\u2019s doing with it \u2014 because it is different, for sure.<\/p>\n

How did you get cast as Abby?<\/strong>
[The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann] had talked to me about this character he\u2019d written for The Last of Us Part II, and how he thought I would be good for it. It was the Abby character, but when I worked with him on Uncharted 4, I think that he was like, \u201cOh no, I can\u2019t work with her again right away. I need to change it up.\u201d So I originally read for Dina, I think. But when I went in and read for Abby, he was like, \u201cAh, damn it. I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you think Neil responded to?<\/strong>
It\u2019s a fine line: How vulnerable do you want to be? Abby is not written to be very vulnerable, but you have to find that in the character. I think that\u2019s what Neil was drawn to in mythe audition.<\/p>\n

What scene did you audition with?<\/strong>
It was the scene where Joel has been captured. It was funny, because I got the sides, and, you know, it\u2019s all secret, hush-hush. All the names had been changed, and in the audition scene, there were just two people, and the man was injured and on the floor. But I was reading it, and I\u2019m like\u2026 \u201cIs this Joel?\u201d So I called [Joel actor Troy Baker], because we hang out all the time, and I had him read the sides with me.<\/p>\n

When did you actually find out that this was how <\/strong>The Last of Us Part II <\/strong>would begin? That this act of violence would be central to Abby\u2019s story, and the journey the player is going to go on?<\/strong>
I knew very quickly that\u2019s what her character was going, but it shifted a lot. After I was cast, Neil was still finishing the story. I had several meetings with him where we would say, \u201cThis is what the story is going to be.\u201d And then the next time I would see him, it\u2019d be like, \u201cJust kidding! We\u2019re changing that up and now you\u2019re going to be doing this.\u201d Up until we were filming, some things got shifted.<\/p>\n

Were you and Ashley Johnson swapping notes?<\/strong>
It was interesting, because when we were filming, Ashley\u2019s story and my story were filmed in completely different shots. So I never knew the stuff that she was doing until our scenes intersected. Getting to play the game through and see everything that she had been doing \u2014 and then play the moments where our stories met \u2014 it was so moving.<\/p>\n

What was it like actually filming the scene where Abby kills Joel?<\/strong>
It was a really hard day. On multiple levels. We shot that scene in one take, so everything \u2014 him entering the room, everything that happens, up until the moment \u2014 was one take. That\u2019s a lot of moving parts, because there are so many people in the scene. It had to be very, very technical, but everybody had to be completely dialed in. The emotions need to run high, and then it still has to be controlled.<\/p>\n

And you\u2019re playing a character who\u2019s doing something so horrible to characters who are being played by some of your best friends.<\/strong>
I remember, on that day, looking in Troy\u2019s eyes as we were doing that scene. It\u2019s a memory I\u2019ll never forget. And the hardest part of it was when Ashley would enter the scene. I was completely focused on Troy, and from behind me, all I could hear was Ashley\u2019s wracking sobs. I knew the camera was going to be filming from behind me, so I was just sobbing, because of the emotions of the scene. Knowing what I had just done, and taken away from her.<\/p>\n

Obviously all of you knew what a shocking moment this was going to be for <\/strong>The Last of Us<\/strong> fans \u2014 but what was the difference between the backlash you anticipated, and the backlash you experienced?<\/strong>
I knew it was going to be intense. I knew it was going to be controversial. But I was still so excited to share it with the world, because I poured so much into that performance, and I was really proud of it. So to get that reaction right away was really tough. I don\u2019t think anybody predicted what the fallout would be from it. I was not prepared. But I don\u2019t think anybody on the team was.<\/p>\n

Why do you think the backlash was so intense?<\/strong>
I think it was just a perfect storm, you know? The timing of the release was right when COVID hi, and everybody was trapped inside, and just looking for something to be angry about. So many people had so much anger about the situation that they were in. And then [Joel\u2019s death] got leaked, so the buildup of the story \u2014 the way it was supposed to be revealed, and the resolution of it, if you can call it a resolution\u2026 it wasn\u2019t there for people. All they got was the violence, and none of the story. So I think that hatred just grew and grew and grew until the game was out, and then it just exploded.<\/p>\n

Do you think the reaction would have been different if players had experienced Joel\u2019s death as intended, while playing the game, and not out of context, months in advance?<\/strong>
I don\u2019t think it would have been as extreme. I think that there obviously would have been people who were very upset by it. I mean, Joel is loved. Adored. People identify with him, you know? He\u2019s so important to so many people, and to have that ripped away from you, as violently as it is in the game\u2026 it needs to be that violent, I think. It\u2019s traumatizing.<\/p>\n

But had there been the ability to continue with the story, see all of the perspectives, and find the resolution that Ellie (kind of) gets. I think that would have helped the processing of it. I do know that I still stand by that performance, and I still stand by that game, 100 percent. I think it was what it needed to be.<\/p>\n

To me, part of what\u2019s frustrating about the backlash is that making players so enraged at Joel\u2019s death is clearly the intended effect. But <\/strong>The Last of Us Part II<\/strong>\u2019s story goes on for many more hours, and some players \u2014 even those who played the whole game \u2014 just seemed to stop, emotionally, at \u2018She killed Joel!\u2019<\/strong>
The amount of people who only get to \u2018I hate Abby\u2019\u2026 that\u2019s what Ellie is going through as well. One of the things that was most moving to me, when I played through the game, was how awful it feels to be Ellie in the game, and to see her descent into madness, basically.<\/p>\n

And then you switch over to Abby, and you just want to hate her so much. And you do! You start out hating that character so much. But as her story goes along, and you see her clawing her way up out of the darkness and trying to find her way into the light, she grows on you. And then you don\u2019t know what to think anymore when [Ellie and Abby] have to fight at the end. You just want to put your controller down. And that is the point of it, right? To realize: Stop. There\u2019s no good that comes out of the continuing cycle of violence.<\/p>\n

What was it like actually filming such a brutal fight scene?<\/strong>
Oh, that was intense. Physical. In the moment when Ashley is holding me down under the water and strangling me, I made a choice that I wasn\u2019t going to breathe until Abby came out of the water. She had her hands on my throat, and I wasn\u2019t breathing, and I\u2019m going, oh, my God, this is going on for so long. I\u2019m going to die. And Ashley said, as we finished it, that she looked down and saw my lips were blue. And then I got up, and she let go of my throat, and I sat up, and I couldn\u2019t force myself to breathe in. It was like my body was unable to breathe in right away.<\/p>\n

Does it feel, nearly five years after the game\u2019s release, like the backlash has finally died down?<\/strong>
It has definitely calmed down. There\u2019s definitely still a contingent of people that have not calmed down from it. You know, anytime anything gets posted about [The Last of Us Part II], or anytime I post anything random, there\u2019s going to be at least one comment from somebody.<\/p>\n

And I honestly don\u2019t know: Is it just the same hundred people that keep commenting? And they just won\u2019t let go? It\u2019s one of the reasons I don\u2019t really post on social media anymore. I don\u2019t want to say I was scared away from it, because I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what it was. It just kind of made me more guarded, you know?<\/p>\n

Have you experienced the opposite as well? People who love Abby and appreciate <\/strong>The Last of Us Part II<\/strong> and your performance?<\/strong>
You know, we just did this live show this past weekend for Critical Role. Afterwards, we did a meet-and-greet with a lot of fans, and so many people came up because of The Last of Us. And it was wonderful to get to see people coming dressed as Abby, and saying how much that character has changed their lives.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t expect that when all of this happened. I didn\u2019t expect to be in a place where I would get to meet people that loved her story. It is so rare to get to play, and embody, and collaborate on a character like Abby. It is a gift to get to work on something like that, and I\u2019m so proud and grateful.<\/p>\n

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