Modern Family Star, Who Auditioned for Ellie, in Talks to Play Abbie in The Last of Us Season 2
American post-apocalyptic TV series The Last of Us released earlier this year was adapted from Naughty Dog’s 2013 video game of the same name. The series was co-created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. The show followed a smuggler named Joel Miller who was entrusted with an immune teenager Ellie across the post-apocalyptic United States.
While The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal portrayed Joel, Game of Thrones star Bella Ramsey was cast as the teenager Ellie. The casting of the latter of these was rather tough and some of the best actresses could not be cast as Ellie because by the time the series was in development with HBO, those actresses were older than the character was supposed to be. One of these actresses was Modern Family star Kaitlyn Dever who is now being considered for a different role.
Kaitlyn Dever Might Be Cast as Abbie in The Last of Us
Kaitlyn Dever’s debut acting role came in the 2009 TV film An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong. Two years later, her breakthrough role came as Loretta McCready in the FX crime drama series Justified. She went on to appear in numerous other TV series and films including the sitcom Modern Family and Clint Eastwood’s movie J. Edgar.
When creator Neil Druckmann began working on the film adaptation of The Last of Us in March 2014, Kaitlyn Dever and Maisie Williams were considered for the role of Ellie. By 2016, the movie got into a developmental limbo, and by the time the filming for the show began, both Dever and Williams were a decade older than the character of Ellie.
While talking to the Los Angeles Times in August 2023, Craig Mazin refused to give any spoilers about who is going to be cast in the role of Abbie who is a rival to Ellie for the second season of the Pedro Pascal starrer The Last of Us. The InSneider‘s Jeff Sneider has recently revealed that Booksmart fame Kaitlyn Dever might be cast as Abbie Anderson in the upcoming season of the show which might premiere sometime in 2025.
Craig Mazin’s Reasoning for Creating The Last of Us
Despite being the co-creator of The Last of Us in which zombie-like creatures are seen, Craig Mazin is not a fan of zombies. The question that arises here is why he is so invested in making one of the most famous zombie series on TV if zombies are not his thing.
Read More: It’s very stretchy”: The Last of Us Make Up Designer compares Adam Basils costume with a sofa.
Mazin explained his reasoning for doing so in the interview with the Los Angeles Times, saying:
“What ‘The Last of Us’ really explores is the duality of love, not love and hate, just love. When you love your own family, your own people, you want to defend your own group. That’s either patriotism or xenophobia; it’s hard to tell the difference sometimes.”
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Mazin said that while a parent sacrificing other kids to save their own is a product of their love. No one is going to question the parent for making that choice. However, that does justify their action of sacrificing other kids as it is morally wrong to do so. This is exactly what has drawn the creator to the show.
