Abby Anderson

This article is about the character from the HBO series. For her appearance in the video game series, see Abby Anderson.

Abby Anderson
Biographical information
Other names	Abs (by Nora)
Birth date	2004
Age(d)	24
Status	Alive
Gender	Female
Occupation(s)	Soldier
Affiliation(s)	Fireflies (formerly) Washington Liberation Front
Relationships	Gerald Anderson (father)
Resides	Salt Lake City, Utah (formerly) Seattle, Washington
Height	5'2"
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Hazel
Behind the scenes
Appears in	HBO's The Last of Us (season 2 and 3)
Portrayed by	Kaitlyn Dever

“

But I am going to kill you because it doesn't matter if you have a code like me, or you're a lawless piece of shit like you, there are just some things everyone agrees are just fucking wrong. ―Abby to Joel Miller noicon

”

Abby Anderson is a supporting character in the second season of HBO's The Last of Us.

A former member of the Fireflies, she was struck by tragedy when Joel Miller killed her father during his massacre of the group in 2024. Vowing to avenge him, she later became a skilled soldier in the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), based in Seattle, Washington. Her black-and-white view of the world was challenged as she pursued vengeance against Joel. On New Year's Day 2029, she tracked him to Jackson where she killed him, crossing paths with Ellie Williams in the process. Seeking vengeance and justice, Ellie and Dina embarked on a journey to Seattle to kill Abby and her friends.

Biography

Background and early life

Abby was born in 2004 to Gerald Anderson, a surgeon who served for the Fireflies. At some point before 2024, she also joined the militia and befriended Owen, Mel, Nora and Manny. They were located at St. Mary's Hospital in Salt Lake City. In January 2024, Ellie Williams and Joel Miller were brought in by the Fireflies. Back in Boston, Ellie was bit but did not turn. Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies, ordered smuggler Joel to escort Ellie to the Fireflies. Abby's father began the operation to remove Ellie's brain so that he could study the Cordyceps that had grown with her since birth to replicate the chemical messengers to develop a cure, which would result in killing her. Upon learning this, Joel massacred eighteen soldiers and Abby's father and took Ellie. Upon exiting the hospital, Joel also killed Marlene. His massacre resulted in the collapse of the Fireflies.

After the massacre, Abby found her father's body herself. Abby stayed behind for three days to help the wounded. Despite her and her friends efforts, many Fireflies still died, and she and the others buried them near the hospital. Upon speaking with witnesses of the massacre, she gained a description of Joel and began a plan of hunting him down and torturing him to death out of revenge for killing her father and destroying their home.

Events of HBO's The Last of Us

Season 2

Grieving her father

Abby being comforted by Owen.

While there grieving, the group laments their deaths and discuss tracking down Joel. Abby argues they should pursue Joel immediately, but Owen suggests joining a group fellow Firefly Ed Dixon had connections with. Abby insists she wants revenge, Owen proposing they join the group to gain a better lead on where Joel may have fled to, since he took their only working car anyway. Abby sits by one grave and places a Firefly pendant on it. She turns back to Owen and remarks that she wants to kill Joel slowly.

Killing Joel

Almost 5 years later, during the early hours of January 1, 2029, New Year's Day, Abby and her friends arrived at Jackson during a snowstorm and took shelter in a nearby abandoned lodge. That night, Abby had a nightmare of being in St. Mary's Hospital on the day her father died following Joel's massacre of the Fireflies. In the dream, she encountered another version of herself who warned her not to enter the room, saying their father was already dead. Abby accused her other self of being a liar and being nothing like her.

Abby trying to survive against infected.

Abby woke and discussed a plan to kill Joel. She suggested ambushing and abducting a patrol to learn his location, bluffing threats to scare them into talking. Owen disagreed, citing how well trained and prepared the residents appeared to be and offered to come up with a solid plan while Abby took watch to observe the settlement. While outside, she spied a pair of Jackson patrol and moved closer. However, she accidentally fell down the mountain side, awakening a large horde of infected. She fled to the nearby Copper Mine, where Joel saved her from a runner. They fled back to Dina where Abby told the pair they could take shelter in the lodge to escape the horde. With no other plan, they agreed and fled.

At the lodge, Abby revealed Joel's identity to her friends. The group held Joel and Dina hostage, with Abby instructing Mel to sedate Dina using anesthesia. She told Joel that the Fireflies were gone and made him reveal he last saw them at Salt Lake. When Joel reminded her that he had saved her life, she retorted "What life?" and shot him in the kneecap with a shotgun. She approached him and revealed he had killed her father — the head surgeon who had been preparing to operate on Ellie — by shooting him in the head. She declared her intent to kill him, called him a "lawless piece of shit," and picked up a golf club.

Abby looks at Ellie after killing Joel.

As Abby continued speaking, Joel interrupted her, telling her to "shut the fuck up" and kill him already. She called him a stupid old man, saying he didn't get to rush her, and struck his leg multiple times with the golf club. She continued to beat him severely, even using her fists when the club broke. She ignored her friend's pleas to stop, only ending her torture when Ellie burst into the room, leading to a scuffle ending in Nora restraining Ellie on the ground. Owen then ordered Abby finish Joel so they could flee, fearing other Jackson patrolmen were closing on their location. Ignoring Ellie's pleas, Abby took a broken half of the club and drove it into Joel's throat, killing him. The group then fled, leaving Ellie and Dina alive.

Confronting Ellie

In April, 2029, Abby was present sleeping in the library at the WLF's stadium when Manny arrived to wake her. He revealed that Isaac Dixon wanted to see them. She asked to be given five minutes to wake up properly, walking out to the balcony to observe the farming area on the field.

Abby holding Tommy hostage.

Two days later, Abby, Owen and Mel went rogue from the WLF despite Isaac needing her for the planned invasion against the Seraphites. By night time, she found Owen and Mel dead in the aquarium, an area she and her friends had taken refuge in. She managed to track down Tommy Miller (Joel's younger brother) to the Pinnacle theater. Thinking he killed her friends, she attacked him by surprise and beat him to the floor. However, she heard footsteps coming towards her. Looking to the auditorium doors, she shot Jesse in the head as he raced through, killing him. She then used Tommy to blackmail Ellie into surrendering to her. She prepared to kill Tommy when Ellie revealed she herself had killed Owen and Mel. Outraged that Ellie wasted the fact she had been spared the same fate as Joel, Abby aimed her pistol at Ellie and fired.

Physical appearance

Abby is a young woman with her long brown hair tied into a braided ponytail.

Personality

Abby is a determined, grieving and vengeful woman. Horrified by Joel's murder of her fellow Fireflies and her father, she makes it her mission to find and kill him. The massacre committed by Joel in St. Mary's hospital left Abby with PTSD, with her having nightmares of the day her father as well as other Fireflies were murdered by Joel. This capability to be driven by revenge was ingrained within her, as Abby once again sought revenge and killed people after Owen and Mel were murdered by Ellie.

She is capable of brutality, desiring to torture those who wronged her, specifically Joel, after he orders her to "shut the fuck up" and simply kill him. Despite this, she did hold some compassion, having Mel help Dina when brought back to the lodge and even let her be sedated so she would not have to see her torture Joel. She also spared her and Ellie's lives despite the chance they may also seek vengeance for her killing Joel.

Relationships

Gerald Anderson

Gerald was the father of Abby.

Owen

Owen is a close friend of Abby's, who was concerned over her welfare, giving her advice on how to find Joel. He also held her hand to comfort Abby over her grief. She also displayed compassion towards him, offering him blankets when he came in from the cold and opted to take the next watch so he wouldn't have to.

Upon finding Owen dead at the aquarium, Abby was overcome with her drive for revenge the same way she was after her father was killed. She tracked down his killer, Ellie Williams and aimed to kill her to avenge Owen's demise.

Quotes

Abby: "No... none of this is fucking fair!"

---

Abby: "Slowly. When we kill him, we kill him slowly."

---

“

Eighteen soldiers and one doctor. You remember that one. An unarmed doctor you shot in the head. Yeah... that was my dad. ―Abby to Joel why she has searched for him. noicon

”

---

Abby: "Our commander trained us to follow a code. We don't kill people that can't defend themselves and right now, that's you. But I am going to kill you because it doesn't matter if you have a code like me, or you're a lawless piece of shit like you. There are just some things everyone agrees are just fucking wrong."

---

Abby: "You... stupid old man... you don't get to rush this."

---

Abby: "I let you live... I let you live! And you wasted it!"

Behind the scenes

Kaitlyn Dever, the actress who portrays Abby.

• Abby is portrayed by American actress and musician Kaitlyn Dever. In November 2023, it was reported that Dever was in talks to play Abby and was a top contender for the role. Her casting was later officially announced by HBO and Naughty Dog on January 9, 2024.
  • In an April 2020 interview with Collider, Dever revealed that she is a huge fan of The Last of Us, having played the original game with her father when it released. She stated she "fell in love with that game when it came out," and praised its "wonderful narrative" and "incredible story." She also noted her poor aim and that she's "working on getting better at playing."
  • Dever was originally considered for the role of Ellie Williams in the cancelled film adaptation of The Last of Us, which was announced in 2014, and even participated in a table read for it. By the time the film was cancelled and development on the HBO series had begun, she had aged out of consideration for the role. However, she still expressed interest in playing Ellie in the HBO series in response to fan castings, saying she "would absolutely love to do that."
  • Dever first officially collaborated with Naughty Dog on the 2016 video game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, where she provided the voice and motion capture for Cassie, the daughter of the series' protagonist, Nathan Drake.
• Abby in the show is far less muscular compared to her game counterpart. In the video game, the developers wanted to justify her combat skills differing from Ellie's, providing a stronger melee approach to take on enemies. The show's creators wanted to focus on drama instead of violence, prioritizing performance over appearance. The show's co-creator Craig Mazin also wanted to explore a more vulnerable version of Abby.
• The reasoning behind Abby's motives is immediately given in the show, while the game left them mysterious for much longer. The show's creators wanted to ensure audiences connect with Abby, as the player does not control her to create a player-protagonist bond. Additionally, if the timing for the motive was revealed similar to the game, it would have to be relegated to season 3, and they did not want audiences to accidentally become spoiled between seasons.

Gallery

Promotional images

Official profile from HBO's website

Kaitlyn Dever as Abby poster

Official stills

Abby having a nightmare of St. Mary's Hospital.

Abby's Firefly pendant.

Abby and the Salt Lake crew at the graves of Fireflies.

Abby at the graves of the Fireflies.

Owen comforting Abby.

Abby looking over her shoulder.

Abby on the outskirts of Jackson.

Abby being chased by infected.

Abby being chased by infected.

Abby in winter clothing.

Abby and Joel on horseback.

Abby uses a shotgun to cripple Joel.

Abby speaking to Joel.

Abby explains the pain Joel inflicted on her.

Abby preparing to torture Joel.

Abby while killing Joel.

Abby looking out of the window at Jackson.

Abby and her crew leaving Jackson.

Abby in the WLF's stadium.

Abby in the WLF's stadium.

Behind the scenes

Other

Abby fatally stabs Joel using a sharp broken golf club.

Appearances

• HBO's The Last of Us
  • Season 2
    • Episode 1: "Future Days" (first appearance)
    • Episode 2: "Through the Valley"
    • Episode 3: "The Path" (flashback; mentioned)
    • Episode 5: "Feel Her Love" (mentioned only)
    • Episode 7: "Convergence"