A lot of fans were disappointed that Kaitlyn Dever was too old to play Ellie when The Last of Us series was announced, but they did manage to bring her to the show in the form of Abby—Ellie’s rival.
Now with Season 2 ended, and fans looking forward to Season 3, series co-creator Neil Druckmann has confirmed that Dever will actually be the lead for the next season of The Last of Us. He confirms it at an Emmys FYC event:
Kaitlyn Dever reacts to being officially confirmed by Neil Druckmann as the lead in #TheLastOfUs Season 3 pic.twitter.com/CqAczhDpIA
— The Last of Us News (@TheLastofUsNews) June 10, 2025
This should come as no surprise to people who have played The Last of Us Part II. After all, one of the biggest twists in the game is finding out that you have to play the entirety of the Seattle timeline from Abby’s perspective.
Admittedly, game fans were worried that the series won’t be able to milk the same kind of emotional reaction from players like the game did, but so far, I think the changes that have been done were for the better, including the reveal of Ellie and Joel’s last talk and Abby’s reason for going after Joel.
Unsurprisingly, there are already a lot of fans that have been bashing the second season for not meeting expectations, but hopefully Druckmann and co-showrunner Craig Mazin stick true to where they want to go because I wasn’t expecting the fandom to play nice—particularly with this very divisive story.
I just hope we don’t have to wait another two years to finally see what Abby’s Seattle story is going to be like.
No release date has been set for The Last of Us Season 3.
