The 'Booksmart' star will play the television version of Abby Anderson, a paramount character from 'The Last of Us Part II' video game.
The Last of Us season 2 has found its Abby Anderson in Kaitlyn Dever.
The Booksmart star, 27, confirmed on Tuesday that she will play Abby -- a crucial character in the eponymous video game the show is based on -- in season 2, set to begin filming in the spring.
"So excited to join the family ❤️," Dever wrote in a post on Instagram, tagging series co-creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, as well as The Last of Us account.
Dever is best known for her roles on Tim Allen's Last Man Standing, but most recently starred in Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins, Hulu's No One Will Save You and Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy's Good Grief on Netflix.
Under her post, the actress' famous friends -- including The Last of Us season 1 alum, Melanie Lynskey -- commented on the news, congratulating her on scoring the coveted role in the Emmy-nominated show.
"Oh I am so in love with this casting ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️," the Yellowjackets actress wrote.
"now this is iconic❤️🙌," responded Never Have I Ever actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
"🙌🙌🙌," shared Levy.
According to Comic Book Resources, Dever's character is an incredibly divisive one among fans of the original game. Abby is a leader of the Fireflies -- a militia group in the game -- and later the Washington Liberation Fund. It's unclear if the show plans to follow Abby's story from the game, however.
HBO announced in January 2023 that the Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey-led series had been renewed for season 2, just two weeks after the first episode premiered. In July, the show's first season received 24 Emmy nominations, including Best Drama Series.
The first season of the show follows Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) as they travel across a post-pandemic United States to try and save humanity with a cure for the infected.
The Hollywood Reporter asserted in 2023 that the end of season 2 is expected to cover the game's sequel, as confirmed by Dever's casting as her character only appears in The Last of Us Part II, but Ramsey told ET that the outline for the season cannot be described without spoilers.
"Who knows what's going to happen in season 2?" Ramsey said. "I actually don't know... I still don't know what they're hatching up."
Last year, Mazin told Collider that the game's second installment would probably "take us more than a season to tell," leaving the door open for more renewals, but both creators have made it clear they will never go beyond the narrative established by the game.
"Our ambition is to tell the story that exists, as best as we can, in a different medium," Mazin said, with Druckmann adding, "This will be as many seasons as required to reach that ending, and no more."
HBO has not yet announced a release date for The Last of Us season 2, but the network's Drama Chief, Francesca Orsi, told Deadline in May 2023 that she and her team had set a goal for "some time in 2025."
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