Renowned actress Laura Bailey portrayed deuteragonist Abby Anderson in The Last of Us Part 2, but Naughty Dog almost didn’t cast her because “she’s in everything”.
That’s coming from The Last of Us creator and Naughty Dog exec Neil Druckmann himself. Druckmann was chatting with Santa Monica Studio’s creative director Cory Barlog during a panel at DICE this week, where he said he was “sure it was going to be a different actor” when he was watching the auditions live (thanks, PC Gamer).
Even the studio more generally thought Bailey wouldn’t be right for the role as Abby, as she had already been in so many other games, including Naughty Dog’s own Uncharted series.
However, and as we all know, the team changed its mind. Druckmann said the tipping point came after studying the audition videos “frame-by-frame”, and noticing a moment of “vulnerability” in Bailey’s audition that others hadn’t shown. Druckmann then showed this moment to the wider Naughty Dog team, convincing them that Bailey was the right choice for Abby.
Bailey went on to win the Best Performance accolade at the 2020 Game Awards for her portrayal of Abby.
For her role, Bailey received inexcusable online abuse, which didn’t just threaten her life, but that of her baby son’s as well. During a behind-the-scenes documentary about the game last year, Bailey confirmed that the “real hardcore death threats” were so concerning, they were passed on to police.
Kaitlyn Dever, who is set to portray Abby in the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, required extra security during filming for her own protection.
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