Laura Bailey, who played Abby Anderson in The Last of Us Part 2, believes HBO made the right call changing several key points in the TV adaptation.
Please note, there will be spoilers for The Last of Us below.
Earlier this week, the second episode of The Last of Us’ second season aired. While much of the episode’s run time was made up of the infected’s attack on Jackson, there was one particular moment that left fans of the series in shock: Joel’s death.
As in the video game it is based on, in HBO’s adaptation Joel – played by Pedro Pascal – is killed by new character Abby with a golf club, following a harrowing and bloody beating. While Abby’s reasons for killing Joel are not explained until much later in the game’s narrative, resulting in a surprising twist for players, HBO’s showrunners decided to change this, laying out Abby’s intentions from the beginning.
The second series begins with Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby mourning the loss of her fellow Fireflies following Joel’s rampage at the end of season one, vowing to kill him for what he has done. Now, Bailey has spoken about the changes in the script, stating she believes them to be a wise choice by the showrunners.
When it first leaked that Abby kills Joel in The Last of Us Part 2, Bailey received online abuse and death threats aimed at herself and her son. “Every time I went online, that’s all I saw. Death threats and threats of violence,” she said in the behind-the-scenes documentary, Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2, which was released in February last year.
Now speaking with Vulture, Bailey says she feels it was a good decision by the showrunners to brace viewers for Joel’s fate ahead of the event itself. “I think that’s why HBO is doing what they’re doing,” she said. “You’re prepared for it.”
Bailey called her own experiences with the online abuse “a very rough period of time” for her. “I knew it was going to be intense. I knew it was going to be controversial,” the Abby actress said.
“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’t think anybody predicted what the fallout would be from it. I was not prepared. But I don’t think anybody on the team was.”
Bailey admitted there is still a part of her that is anxious Joel’s TV death will stir things up again, and while things have “definitely calmed down” in the five years since The Last of Us Part 2’s first release, “there’s definitely still a contingent of people that have not calmed down” from the events of the game.
“You know, anytime anything gets posted about [The Last of Us Part 2], or anytime I post anything random, there’s going to be at least one comment from somebody,” Bailey revealed.
“And I honestly don’t know: Is it just the same hundred people that keep commenting? And they just won’t let go? It’s one of the reasons I don’t really post on social media anymore. I don’t want to say I was scared away from it, because I don’t think that’s what it was. It just kind of made me more guarded, you know?”
Naughty Dog and HBO have already confirmed The Last of Us will be back for a third season, with showrunner Craig Mazin stating:
“We approached season two with the goal of creating something we could be proud of. The end results have exceeded even our most ambitious goals.”
For more, you can check out my feature on the show’s latest episode: Joel dominates headlines, but it’s Tommy who shines in The Last of Us season 2 episode two.