Abby's 'massive scene' in The Last of Us Season 2 was not easy to film and here's what star Kaitlyn Dever said about it

There are difficult workdays—and then there's having to shoot one of the most emotionally charged scenes in The Last of Us canon, just days following the loss of a loved one. When filming Joel's death scene in Season 2 of The Last of Us, Kaitlyn Dever had to deal with that.

When interviewed recently by Entertainment Weekly, Dever talked about the scene as being "massive," "emotional," and "blocking". And rightly so. She said,

"It was just a massive scene emotionally, and with blocking, too,"

This wasn't only a pivotal storytelling moment for the show—it was a personal difficulty for her. Dever shared she had lost her mother just before filming the scene, making the experience even more charged. We came to know this when she said,

"To be as honest as possible, I will just say that my days leading up to this scene were horrible. I lost my mom two or three weeks before I actually shot this scene [on The Last of Us], and my mom's funeral was three days before I did my first day. So I was sort of in a fog. I was in a daze."

It's not hyperbolic to label this one of The Last of Us story's most crucial—and incendiary—scenes. True to the game, the series sees Abby murder Joel (played by Pedro Pascal), which triggers a chain of events that defines the rest of the season.

Dever's performance had to balance the visceral emotional burden of the character with the actual-world mourning she was going through, and in her own telling, it was flat-out tough. The movement was intricate, multi-threaded, and physically taxing, needing both precise choreography and emotional exposure.

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The real-life weight behind the performance in The Last of Us

Kaitlyn Dever's performance was not influenced merely by the script—it was thoroughly affected by private loss. Discussing, as she did, filming the central scene so quickly after her mother's passing provided a burden far beyond acting. Although the character Abby has independent motivation for the violent moment, Dever used it with raw grief still aching, imparting to the performance an added level of emotional realism that hardly any viewers ever would have any idea about were they not told the background first.

Her comments highlight the emotional challenge off-screen. It wasn't a matter of merely hitting marks or delivering lines—it was a matter of demonstrating grief, anger, and intricate moral ambiguity realistically. Dever's statements clarify: this was not an easy scene to perform. It was a moment that took all her emotional and physical energy, and the personal situation surrounding it made it that much more overwhelming.

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Abby's burden: A role under the microscope

Abby is no ordinary character. Within The Last of Us lore, she's polarizing, central, and contentious—and Dever understood what she was getting herself into. Players have opinions about Abby's actions, particularly when it comes to Joel. That level of scrutiny puts pressure on, and Dever has spoken about just how heavy the role was. According to Entertainment Weekly, she said,

"Because of my life circumstances, I wasn't actually able to do my normal routine as an actor, which was really interesting because I was kind of worried about it."

She continued,

"Usually if I have a monologue like that, I'm memorizing it three weeks before I do it. I had a different approach, and I think that it really served the character in a lot of ways. I was able to sort of… I don't know, just really let it go and not think about it too much because the words on the page are so powerful anyway."

Her performance needed to be authentic, not just to the script, but also to the emotional intricacies gamers were already intimately familiar with.

The moment required subtlety. It wasn't merely the act of physically killing a favorite character—it was conveying why, how, and what it implied. The scene had "lots of moving parts," and that emotional intensity wasn't just on-screen. As she said, quoted by Entertainment Weekly

"It was just a massive scene emotionally, and with blocking, too, there were so many moving parts and so many things to navigate."

It implies that it was a group experience on set, with cast and crew collaboratively approaching a moment that might easily become flat if not approached with the greatest sensitivity.

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Why is this scene so important in season two of The Last of Us

For anyone not in the know, Joel's death upends everything. It turns the lens on Ellie's anger and loss, and on Abby's motivation. It is the story branching that takes every character tumbling into morally complex places. For the remainder of the season, Dever's "massive scene" had to set the tone for emotion. Without it being a success, the rest of the story could find itself lacking in depth and purpose.

While The Last of Us Season 2 does some things differently from the game, the essence of the moment isn't lost. It's not done to disturb for the sake of disturbing—this is a storytelling based on consequence, trauma, and the development of characters. Dever's background, combined with her acting, contributes significantly to the audience's understanding of that.

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Behind the scenes of The Last of Us: The cast and crew's collective effort

This wasn't Dever's emotional burden alone to bear. Everyone on the set understood how much this scene meant, and the crew gave it their all to ensure it was done correctly. Director Mark Mylod (Succession) worked the troupe nearly like a team. They would all get together between shots to get notes as a collective, not each individually. As per Entertainment Weekly, Dever also said,

"It made us all feel like we were a team and doing this together. I've never experienced that before."

The choreography was meticulously mapped out. Feelings were high. And although the physical aspect—yes, even the notorious golf club—was involved, the emphasis was always on ensuring the scene doesn't lose its deeper significance.

Dever's recognition of the emotional atmosphere on set serves to emphasize how seriously the production took this scene. It wasn't about fanboys and their expectations or fidelity to the game—it was about respect for the story. The result? A scene already creating buzz well ahead of its official airing.

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Kaitlyn Dever's experience filming Joel's death in The Last of Us Season 2 was not only emotionally complicated—it was personally agonizing. The scene, at the center of both the show and the series' narrative curve, required everything of her as an actress. And she gave it to us on screen, dealing with the loss of someone close in her own life as well.

Carefully done by the entire cast and crew, the scene promises to be one of the moments that define this series. Throughout the season, this moment will be a focal point for viewers, for the narrative, and for those who created it.

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Also read: The Last of Us Season 2: HBO drops release date updates for the upcoming chapter of its post-apocalyptic drama

“Meant to happen”: The Last of Us creator breaks silence on Joel’s death in Season 2