The Last of Us Season 2, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, is here with several new characters, including Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever. What else has Dever appeared in before?
The Last of Us is based on the Naughty Dog’s hit video game franchise developed for PlayStation gaming consoles. The series is set amid a worldwide pandemic where the infected turn into zombie-like creatures called Cordyceps. Released in 2023, Season 1 of The Last of Us found Joel (Pascal) smuggling an immune teen, Ellie (Ramsey), out of the quarantine zone and across a post-apocalyptic America.
Note: Spoilers for “The Last of Us” Season 2 are revealed in the next two paragraphs.
The Last of Us Season 2’s logline reads, “Five years after the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.”
Among the dangerous people Joel and Ellie face is Abby (Dever) — one of the surviving members of the Fireflies resistance group that eluded Joel’s killing spree at the end of The Last of Us Season 1 — and she’s out for revenge.
Born in December of 1996, Dever’s first screen appearance came in a supporting role in the 2009 HBO video release of the family movie An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong. In 2011, Dever appeared in guest roles in such TV shows as Modern Family, The Mentalist, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Private Practice.
In 2011, Dever played a supporting role in the Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel comedy Bad Teacher and also landed a recurring role as Loretta McCready opposite Timothy Olyphant in the series Justified.
Apart from an already eventful year in 2011, Dever landed her breakthrough television role while building her career on both the big and small screens. Here’s a look at some of Dever’s credits and why she looks so familiar in The Last of Us Season 2.
‘Last Man Standing’ (2011-2021)
Kaitlyn Dever played Mike and Vanessa Baxter’s (Tim Allen and Nancy Travis) youngest daughter, Eve, in the long-running sitcom Last Man Standing.
Dever was a series regular for Seasons 1-6 when the show aired on ABC and returned for in a recurring capacity for Seasons 7-9 when the show was picked up by Fox Television.
‘Short Term 12’ (2013)
Kaitlyn Dever plays Jayden in Short Term 12, an independent drama starring Brie Larson, Rami Malen and LaKeith Stanfield.
Jayden is one of the teen members of a short-term group home for troubled teenages who finds understanding in Grace (Larson), who is the facility’s supervisor.
‘Booksmart’ (2019)
Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein stars as best friends Amy Antsler and Molly Davidson in Booksmart, a coming-of-age comedy about a pair teens who finally decide to let loose on the eve of their high school graduation.
Booksmart marked the feature film directorial debut of Olivia Wilde. The R-rated comedy also starred Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow and Will Forte.
‘Unbelievable’ (2019)
Kaitlyn Dever stars Marie Adler in Unbelievable, a Netflix miniseries about a teenager who is sexually assaulted and reports it to police. However, the police don’t believe Marie and she is charged with allegedly lying about rape.
Toni Collette and Merritt Wever also star as Detective Grace Rasmussen and Detective Karen Duvall, who are determined to discover that Marie was telling the truth.
Unbelivable is based on reporters T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning article An Unbelievable Story of Rape and their 2018 book A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America.
‘Dear Evan Hansen’ (2021)
An adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same name, Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of Evan (Ben Platt, reprising his Broadway role), a lonesome, anxiety-ridden teen whose letter that he wrote to himself that is taken by Connor (Colton Ryan).
When Connor takes his own life, the letter interpreted a a suicide note written to Evan and Connor’s family seeks to understand why. As such, Evan begins to fabricate how he and Connor were friends, which leads to more lies that involves, among others, Connor’s sister, Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever), whom Evan has feelings for.
‘Dopesick’ (2021)
Kaitlyn Dever stars in one of the main roles in Dopesick, an original Hulu miniseries about how the opioid epidemic grips a mining town in West Virginia.
Michael Keaton stars as Dr. Samuel Finnix — a small-town doctor who prescribes Oxycontin to Betsy Mallum (Dever) after she suffers a serious back injury working in the mines — who isn’t aware of the drug’s powerful addictive qualities.
Dever was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie by the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Critics Choice Association and the Golden Globes.
‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ (2025)
Kaitlyn Dever stars as Belle Gibson, a health and wellness influencer who claims she cured herself of brain cancer using alternative therapies as a way to gain a social media follower and build a business empire in the Netflix original Apple Cider Vinegar.
A limited series, which Netflix calls a “true-ish story based on a lie,” Apple Cider Vinegar also stars Alicia Debnam-Carey as a composite character named Milla Blake, who is a cancer survivor and rival wellness influencer.
Episode 1 of The Last of Us Season 2, which stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Joel, Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Rutina Wesley as Maria and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac, premiered on Sunday night on HBO and Max.
New episodes of The Last of Us Season 2, which consists of seven episodes total, will premiere every Sunday through May 25.
