(The editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for “The Last of Us” season 2, section 2, “Through the Valley.”)
For Kaitlyn Deverthe leadership of ”The last of us“Season 2 included both personal grief and general backlash. It’s no wonder Smash-Hit TV Show helped her start processing.
“I don’t know how these intense roles come into my life so often,” Dever told Indiewire for the season premiere. “I’m really not how it happens, but I think I think it’s something therapeutic.”
From hidden Gem horror movies (“No one will save you”) to real crime dramatizations (“Apple Cider Vinegar”), Dever is a chameleon artist with a preference for dark comedy. She is the most important villain at HBO’s Uber-Popular Zombie/Mushroom apocalypse this season-and her character, Abby, is responsible for one of This year’s most shocking TV death case.
“I wanted to focus on getting to the real root and core of who she is,” Dever said. The actress is a long fan of the award -winning video game, “The Last of US Part II”, which saw the astonishing departure of Pedro Pascal’s beloved Joel who came in front of almost anyone else.
“I had a lot of information that no one else had,” Dever said, looking back at his story with the series co -creator Neil Druckmann. “I carried it with me for many years.”
Dever previously worked with Druckmann, who is the head of the video game studio Naughty Dog, on “Uncharted 4.” Before that, she was also on her way to play Ellie, her teens led in “The Last of Us” (Bella Ramsey on TV), for a potential film pass.
“I had some meetings with him about it,” Dever said, describing a tour through Naughty died. “He spoiled the whole other game (for me) years before the game even came out.”
It was more than a decade ago and the plans for the movie Fizzled. Still, the story held a “special place” in Dever’s heart, she said. A record -breaking best seller who won this year’s game hundreds of times, “The Last of US Part II” consoles 2020. In spite of a frustrating scriptThe sequel’s main hook – a sudden and brutal execution that sees Abby beating Joel to death for murdering his father years earlier – destroyed players.
Pascal has described himself as being in “active denial” over the twist in section 2 (H/T Entertainment Weekly), and Dever told several sources that she “felt bad” killing his character. The scene was among the first she shot, at a particularly difficult time in her privacy. When he spoke to Indiewire, Dever explained how her mother’s death just weeks before production affected her process.
“To be very honest, I had to do with a lot in my personal life until my first day shooting at this job,” she said. “I had thought a lot about the role and very prep mentally, but … I really didn’t do the same prep as I normally do on other jobs. And I think it was honestly good for me.”
Dever described his “new routine”, and added, “I threw myself into it in a way I never have before. I think it was helpful to this woman and this character I play and just the intensity of it and the anger and rage that she has. I just felt that I really had to really go for it.”
Letting go in a way she “never has before,” Dever said, helped her the “Last of US” depiction a blow. And you must Was hard to be abby. The character has been a consistent source of controversy since the game came out. First, it made voice actress Laura Bailey and her young son of the goal of bizarre death threats – many made by fans struggling to distinguish the game from reality online.
“I don’t think anyone predicted what the fall would be of it,” Bailey told Vulture. “I was not prepared. But I don’t think anyone in the team was.”
After Devers’s casting, the controversy machine started again. Not only did abby come with the same poisonous baggage as before (“there is definitely still a contingent of people who have not calmed down from it, ”explained Bailey, again to gam)But Dever was also body -shaped by critics who said she did not look. Executive producers have described this version of Abby as more “drama over action” with a strong focus on channeling Abby’s motifs through Devers magnetism.
“I still wanted to do it, and I think it was because of Neil Druckmann and (co -creator/showrunner) Craig Mazin’s confidence in me that made me have confidence in myself to play her,” said Dever, who “didn’t hesitate when I said yes.” “I have read a lot. It’s hard not to, but I can distinguish these things because at the end of the day was what I thought was important (where) what I did with the role of actor, as a person who played a false fictional character.”
She continued, “I had a responsibility to come to it with my own ideas and create who this Abby would be with Craig and Neil.” Pascal published a photo of him and Dever on Instagram shortly after section 2, “Through the Valley”, aired. He praised his co -star and called Dever “your little miracle.” The move has been interpreted by many as an attempt to protect Dever from online hatred.
“It took years,” Dever said about his casting. “Season 1 came out and I was just thinking Bella was really so good Like Ellie. They are really incredible and amazing, and I just love what they did. I became a fan of this show, and then, yes, it came back into my life. “
When asked what makes a great revenge story, Dever said: “That’s all that is under and what fuels are avenged. For Abby, she is just someone who is desperate to make everything disappear and make something bad to feel better. And the reality is that there really is nothing that will go away.”
“The Last of US” Season 2 airs new episodes on Sunday nights at 21 at HBO and Max.
