The Final of Us Season 2 was within the very early phases of coming collectively when the WGA strike kicked off, with showrunner Craig Mazin revealing he’d completed one script when all the pieces shut down. Now that we’re in a post-strike world, the HBO hit is gearing up for manufacturing on its second spherical of heartbreaking episodes, and a brand new casting rumor factors to an A+ actress being eyed for the position of the polarizing online game antagonist Abby Anderson: Kaitlyn mother-fluffing Dever.
The brand new rumor comes from The Insneider, which experiences that Final Man Standing vet and No One Will Save You star Kaitlyn Dever is kind of presumably the expertise that Mazin introduced up in August when he claimed to have discovered TLoU’s Abby. The actress is claimed to be in talks to tackle the half, with negotiations unable to get labored out at any time when the SAG-AFTRA strike was nonetheless ongoing. And I’m undecided I’ve ever wished so arduous for a casting rumor to be true.
Why Kaitlyn Dever Would Make Good Sense To Play Abby
First off, it’s a matter of expertise, with Dever serving up profitable performances in all the pieces she indicators on for, from Justified to E book Good to The Entrance Runner and all the pieces in between. Plus, she’s actually able to delivering grounded and emotional performances in tasks that faucet into darkish, disturbing, and poignant subject material.
Look no additional than Dever’s highly effective work within the Netflix restricted collection Unbelievable to see how glorious she is at enjoying a stunted and scarred character caught up in a sophisticated state of affairs. However let’s not overlook her equally glorious portrayals in Hulu’s Dopesick or the streaming service’s horror anthology Monsterland.
Not that she will’t additionally faucet into extra light-hearted and/or comedic roles. Final 12 months noticed her taking up the lead position within the Romeo & Juliet riff Rosaline and the George Clooney/Julia Roberts rom-com Ticket to Paradise. Her A+ work on this 12 months’s alien invasion thriller No One Will Save You will quickly be adopted by Taika Waititi’s sports activities comedy Subsequent Purpose Wins. Whereas Abby isn’t essentially identified for her stand-up comedy routines, she’s a human being, in any case, and is much from being the type of monster that TV antagonists normally form out to be.
Abby’s story from The Final Of Us Half II is stuffed with spoilers that shouldn’t be mentioned right here, however suffice to say she’s a rounded character that deserves to be performed by somebody who excels at being each heat and menacing, sympathetic and murderous. And even when she’s not six toes tall and bulletproof, Dever can ship the products.
Kaitlyn Dever Was Practically Forged As Ellie
Again when The Final of Us was within the early phases of improvement, Kaitlyn Dever was primarily the go-to actress that followers introduced up when dream-casting the position of the scrappy teen survivor Ellie, no matter age elements. She seemingly had a foot within the door by the use of working with sport director and TV present co-creator Neil Druckmann on the 2016 hit Uncharted 4: A Thief’s Finish, and mentioned that she would have beloved to do it round that point.
Alas, the position finally went to Sport of Thrones vet Bella Ramsey, who knocked it out of the park with their efficiency reverse Pedro Pascal’s Joel. As such, it’s arduous to have any long-lasting regrets about Dever lacking out on the position. However so far as any unresolved emotions go, possibly these may be squashed by Dever becoming a member of the present as Abby.
Right here’s hoping Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann made the selection that we’re all hoping they’d make by bringing Kaitlyn Dever into Season 2, even when it’s not as Abby. (Although that will imply they’d must create one other super-important co-antagonist, which can be an excessive amount of hassle.) Whereas ready to see the place issues go from right here, all of Season 1 may be streamed in full with a Max subscription, and take a look at all of the upcoming horror TV exhibits which are additionally on the best way.