The Last of Us: Who Is Abby Anderson and Why Is She So Controversial? (2024)

Both the video game and television adaptation of The Last of Us end sorely for Ellie and Joel. They're presumably the sole survivors of the massacre at a Firefly hospital where Ellie was determined to die for a Cordyceps vaccine. As the strained surrogate father-daughter duo start a new life in Jackson, Abby Anderson starts a quest for revenge.

Very little was known about the actual plot of The Last of Us Part II before its official release, just as the HBO series' second season. Many players were shocked to find that for half of the game, they would play as Abby, whom players had come to hate for a contentious decision she made. Now that Kaitlyn Dever has been cast as Abby in The Last of Us Season 2, fans of the TV series might be wondering what it is about Abby that got everyone all riled up.

Abby Was the Daughter of an Important Firefly

Before meeting Joel and Ellie in a fatal clash, Abby was the young daughter of Jerry Anderson, a Firefly surgeon.The Last of Us Part II revealed that Jerry was the surgeon Joel killed in order to save Ellie from dying. The ending of the first game left the surgeon anonymous through Joel's point of view of the situation. In this case, Jerry was a nameless man who tried to murder Ellie. No matter how important he was or what family he had, Jerry was a threat that had to be removed in order for Joel not to experience a serious loss again. But the second game put a name to that face, and an entire conflict was built upon the murder.

In a flashback, upon Joel and Ellie's arrival at the Firefly hospital, Jerry was the one who advocated for the surgery on Ellie, knowing the outcome. Abby, who was training as a young Firefly herself, reassured him that if it was her on the operating table, she'd want him to do the surgery as well. After Joel's rampage in the hospital, the few left alive were Abby and her friends. Another issue that arose was the fact that Jerry's death meant there was no other surgeon capable of engineering a vaccine. Alongside Ellie, Jerry was the last hope for humanity.

Abby Experienced a Tremendous Transformation

The loss of her only living family member stung Abby, distancing her from her boyfriend Owen and her friends. Abby barely had a care in the world that Joel prevented the possibility of a vaccine, which would've changed the course of scientific discovery and the reconstruction of society. Her only concern was that her father was murdered in cold blood for trying to do the right thing for the greater good.

Abby and her friends joined the Washington Liberation Front in Seattle, led by the militaristic and xenophobic leader Isaac. Determined to one day find Joel and avenge her father, Abby rose in the WLF's ranks as a ruthless soldier against the Seraphites (or "Scars" as the WLF call them). Abby gained the reputation of being "Isaac's top Scar killer," who was trusted enough to lead the first wave in the final fight against the Seraphites. In a physical manner, Abby developed a strong, muscular physique in order to be in the best shape to take down Joel when their ultimate confrontation comes to fruition.

Eventually, that day came. With the help of her friends, Abby tracked and cornered Joel in Wyoming where she brutally tortured and murdered him with a golf club in front of Ellie. Unbeknownst to Abby, Ellie was the immune girl from the hospital. Although her friends agreed to the plan, it drove most of them apart. The mostly pacifist Mel expressed regret for participating in the act, and Owen had already shown hesitation to kill Ellie and Tommy to cut loose ends.

That's where most players assumed Abby's story would end, but they were wrong. Abby became a playable character who journeyed through a personal redemption arc that defined her beyond the ripped body and killing gamers' favorite dad. Her surprising altruism toward two runaway Seraphites, Lev and Yara, healed the hate brewing inside her. And when she encountered Ellie yet again for killing all of her friends, Abby found it within herself to let Ellie live. Abby found no peace in killing Joel, and knew the cycle of revenge needed to end with someone.

Why Abby's a Controversial Character

The obvious reason people dislike Abby is that she killed Joel. How could anyone not be angry? Joel was the protagonist of the first game. His life was filled with grief until he met Ellie, and was murdered for protecting her. It was a tough ask to get fans onboard and sympathize with Abby. She wasn't exactly introduced in the most empathetic manner as a cruel and cold torturer. But through a jarring perspective shift, players find a young girl motivated by the pursuit of humanity's restoration. Her life comes crumbling down when Joel walks into the picture, forcing her to shed her younger self and grow up in a loveless world.

Even through her guilt-ridden transformation from a hateful hunter to defensive protector, some fans refuse to see the duality of Abby. It didn't matter that Abby was a reflection of Ellie, both of whom were driven by revenge and lost supportive friends in the emotionally-charged process. Abby's biggest loss is that she wasn't introduced in the first game and developed a passionate relationship with gamers like Ellie or Joel. Some people simply refused to look past the fact that she murdered a strong man that led one of the greatest video games of all time, even if his time was already ticking.

Misogynistic gamers also rose from their seats to spew harsh comments about Abby's physique. A defining trait about Abby is that she's muscular and tall, especially compared to the shorter and more petite Ellie. Her physique symbolizes her determination to defeat Joel if that time was to ever come. But some gamers believed that her body was "unrealistic" for a woman in an apocalypse. They were angry that women were no longer being sexualized in video games, as they once were for several years.

The Last of Us Season 2 Doesn't Need to Change Abby

The beauty of Abby's character is that she challenged gamers on the meaning of hero and villain. She's a person who doesn't fit in a box, and can do bad things as a good person. If the first game was shifted from Joel's perspective to Abby's, people would have the same issue with Ellie in the second game. That's why when it comes to the second season of The Last of Us, the show doesn't need to lighten up Abby's inhumanity or go deeper into it. As a character, Abby's portrayal is a near-perfect representation of a person struggling to grieve properly.

The hate the game received for Abby was unwarranted and immature. Abby's voice and motion-capture actor Laura Bailey received death threats for the character, as did the writers of the game. Still, the creators haven't publicly expressed regret about her place in the game. To say that Abby isn't culturally important to video games is an understatement. The Last of Us Part II is such a complex and exhaustive game that it's reportedly taking multiple seasons to cover it.

In that time, Abby's arc can be examined slowly and carefully to fully execute her transformation from a revengeful to merciful woman. Abby pushed the hero-villain boundary more than any other character, so hopefully the adaptation won't try to do damage control to make her more appealing to viewers.

The Last of Us Season 2 is in development and is expected to air in 2025.

The Last Of Us

TV-MA

Drama

Action

Adventure

After a global pandemic destroys civilization, a hardened survivor takes charge of a 14-year-old girl who may be humanity's last hope.

Release Date

January 15, 2023

Creator

Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin

Cast

Pedro Pascal , Bella Ramsey , Anna Torv , lamar johnson

Main Genre

Drama

Seasons

2