After The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2, viewers will be wondering if – and perhaps even hoping – Abby dies in the game. If you want to spoil it for yourself, you’re in the right place.
When Joel saved Ellie from the Fireflies in Season 1, murdering dozens of people (including Marlene and the doctor who would have developed the cure), he sealed his fate. In Episode 1, Abby made a promise to get her revenge by killing him “slowly” – and in Episode 2, she delivers.
It is a horrific scene, with Ellie pinned down and forced to watch as the life fades from Joel’s blood-soaked eyes. Abby and her group flee straight after – leaving Ellie alive and setting up the main story of Season 2.
Those who played The Last of Us Part 2 knew this was coming, but there will be plenty of fans who have only watched the show – which means they won’t know what happens to Abby. Obviously, massive spoilers ahead.
Does Abby die in The Last of Us?
Abby doesn’t die in The Last of Us games. In fact, and this will really blow your mind, Ellie saves her life and decides to let her go.
In Part 2 (and, presumably, Season 2), Joel’s death leaves Ellie hellbent on vengeance. She sets off to Seattle find Abby, but after killing two of her friends, Abby confronts her at her hideout. They fight, and Abby almost kills Dina, but Lev (a Seraphite cast out as an apostate whom she befriends in her part of the story) calms her down and they both leave.
Months later, Tommy reveals he’s tracked down Abby, and Ellie leaves to find her against Dina’s wishes. She finds her in Santa Barbara, where she’s been captured and tortured by the Rattlers (they’re a bit like the Proud Boys) and strung up “pillars”, effectively wooden beams where people are left to die from exposure to the elements.
Ellie ends up getting captured too, but she manages to escape (while killing a few Rattlers along the way) and make it to the pillars, where she frees Abby and Lev. Abby leads her to two boats so they can escape, but Ellie isn’t ready to let go. “I can’t let you leave,” she says.
Abby initially refuses to fight her, but Ellie forces her hand by holding a knife to Lev’s neck. They duke it out, but just as Ellie is about to drown her, she sees Joel sitting on the porch in her head. Ellie sobs and tells Abby to take Lev and go, she sails away into the mist, never to be seen again (until The Last of Us Part 3, of course).
Abby nearly died in the original version of The Last of Us Part 2
SonyAccording to Neil Druckmann, Abby died in the first draft of The Last of Us Part 2.
As part of the commentary for Part 2 Remastered, Druckmann revealed: “Originally, I think, both Yara and Lev died and this was just Abby by herself when you meet up with her, and then Ellie kills Abby.”
Halley Gross, a co-writer on the game, explained that it was important to leave Ellie with “3% of the humanity she got from who she was… that good gid, that scrappy kid that Joel helped shape.”
“I think if she killed Abby, you would never see that kid again,” she added.
In an interview with IndieWire, Druckmann also said: “For more than 50% of the production, Ellie used to kill Abby at the end. Which gave a whole different kind of feel to the ending, and then another character would have to stop the cycle of violence.
“At some point, through our conversations about Yara and Lev, we came to the realization that it wasn’t as honest to Ellie’s character that way. Deep down inside there’s goodness there. Hopefully, she can go forward and build her life.”
Make sure you know when the next episode of The Last of Us Season 2 drops, read about Dina’s fate in the games, and find out why Eugene is so important in Season 2.
