News about The Last of Us season 3 is few and far between these days, and we are months past anything resembling a real update. Do we have a new update today? Well, sort of, and we take what we can get.
A new update from Instagram shows that Abby actress Kaitlyn Dever has begun heavy weight training ahead of the filming of The Last of Us season 3, which is allegedly out in 2027, with a March 2026 production start date, allegedly. Season 3 will be almost exclusively about Abby and her WLF friends, as is what happens in a game transition from Ellie after the season 2 cliffhanger we saw. The difference, of course, is that we are going to be waiting 2.5-3 years, not ten seconds, between those stories.
The Bella Ramsey/Ellie/Kaitlyn Dever/Abby tangled knot has been weird for a while now. Ramsey was cast as Ellie to the surprise of many, and then returned for season 2 after what was meant to be a five-year time gap, where Ellie significantly grows and ages in the game. Ramsey worked out to try to replicate game Ellie as much as possible, but there are limits.
Then there’s Dever, who at one point read for Ellie, but ultimately ended up being cast as Abby, which is a bit head-spinning. She looks like a blend of both characters, oddly. The game directors of The Last of Us Part II always talked about how Abby’s physicality was a key part of her character, with her bodybuilder build a much-talked-about aspect of her character as she barreled through enemies and took on the much more diminutive Ellie. But, after casting the 5’2” Dever, they started saying that her size was really only important for the game to differentiate playstyles.
However, the plan may now be for Dever to bulk up as much as possible, however much that may be, ahead of the filming of season 3 to at least bridge that gap a little bit. One of the many, many criticisms about season 2 of The Last of Us was how it made changes from the game. Dever’s performance was appreciated, but she certainly was a big departure from game Abby. The most controversial aspect of season 2, rather, was how Ellie was written, which made her feel like a totally different character.
If she can do it, a jacked Abby being reminiscent of the games would be cool to see, though at this point, no, I don’t think it’s necessary. And there are limits. I wouldn’t push Dever to some insane degree to try to match game Abby exactly (and I mean, she’s not going to get taller), but we’ll see what we end up with.
Production starts on The Last of Us season 3 in March, supposedly, and we have nothing but a vague 2027 release date, we are probably looking at another 2.5-3 years between seasons. And then another 2.5-3 years to return to Ellie again, if this pace continues. This has gotten…somewhat frustrating.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.