Why Kaitlyn Dever's Abby Needed CGI in The Last of Us Season 2

Much buzz has surrounded Abby’s debut in The Last of Us Season 2, but few anticipated that actor Kaitlyn Dever’s face would require CGI due to an unfortunate spider bite.

That’s precisely what occurred, however. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dever shared that during filming for the hit series, the production team had to digitally conceal a painful, oozing bite mark she sustained during a break.

“It’s in the first episode with the Fireflies,” Dever explained. “I was home for a few weeks and got a spider bite on my cheek. At first, I thought it was just a pimple—it wasn’t.”

“It was a massive spider bite, and it was oozing,” she continued. “The CGI work is incredible—you can’t even notice it. I still have a scar from where they had to remove it.”

Dever also opened up about channeling raw emotion for a pivotal scene. Tragically, her mother passed away from cancer, and just four days after the funeral, Dever filmed an intense, emotional sequence with Joel and Ellie.

“I flew out three days after her funeral, and the fourth day was that chalet scene with the Fireflies,” she said. “It’s all a blur. Watching it felt like experiencing it as a viewer for the first time. Grief does strange things to your mind—it warps your memory.”

HBO has celebrated the triumph of The Last of Us Season 2, noting an audience surge that pushed the series’ global viewership past 90 million since Season 1 concluded. In the U.S., the Season 2 finale drew 3.7 million cross-platform viewers on Sunday night. The premiere episode attracted 5.3 million viewers, reflecting a drop by the finale, but Warner Bros. anticipates a significant viewership increase for the finale due to lower viewing during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Notably, the Season 1 finale achieved a record-breaking 8.2 million viewers, a benchmark the Season 2 finale has yet to surpass.

Every IGN The Last of Us Review

Showrunner Craig Mazin recently suggested a fourth season is likely necessary to fully tell the story. In an interview, Mazin noted that concluding The Last of Us’ narrative, based on Naughty Dog’s two video games, in Season 3 alone would be impractical, as it “would take forever.” While there’s a “decent chance” Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, Mazin emphasized that “there’s no way to wrap up the story in just one more season.” Mazin and Neil Druckmann also hinted at uncertainty about how much screen time some fan-favorite characters will have.