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Abigail "Abby" Anderson is a fictional character in the video game The Last of Us Part II by Naughty Dog. She is portrayed by Laura Bailey through performance capture. A soldier of the Washington Liberation Front, Abby seeks to avenge her father's death, and her alliances become unsettled when she befriends members of the opposing cult.

Abby was created by Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross, the writers of The Last of Us Part II.

Design and casting
Abby is described as having a "commanding presence", with her physical build reflecting the years of training and combat. Her design underwent several iterations, with the goal to portray her as "capable, utilitarian, and strong". When auditioning actors for Abby, creative director Neil Druckmann specifically wanted to avoid casting Laura Bailey due to her proliferation of roles; he had originally considered Bailey to play Dina. When reviewing her audition tape, however, Druckmann was impressed by how Bailey had played into Abby's vulnerability, whereas other actors emphasized her anger. Bailey considers the game important to her personally, as she gave birth to her first son during production. Prior to her pregnancy, Bailey was working out in preparation for the role. She also prepared by researching people involved in wars and their coping mechanisms. Abby's face is based on Jocelyn Mettler, a visual effects artist who formerly worked at Naughty Dog, while her body was based on athlete Colleen Fostch.

Writing
An early iteration of the story had a young Abby witnessing an attack on her group by Joel and Tommy, who were hunters at the time (in the unseen 20 years of the first game), and vowing revenge. As the story and its theme of violence developed, the writers found it more interesting for Abby's father to have been killed by the player in the first game and directly tie into Joel's actions. The switch to Abby in the game's first chapter was done to demonstrate her personality and vulnerabilities and avoid her portrayal as a typical antagonist. She was originally set to be the primary playable character for the game's early hours before killing Joel, but the plot was restructured, and Druckmann felt that personalizing the character too early in the game was "too easy"; Druckmann wanted players to hate Abby early in the game, but later empathize with her. He avoided writing her as a "perfect" character, instead prompting empathy through her flaws and redemptive actions. One of Abby's vulnerabilities is her acrophobia.

Some of the game's flashback scenes with Abby initially depicted her joining the WLF, though it was an unconscious decision on her behalf, as the leader of the WLF was a fellow member of her former group and acted as a father figure for her. Abby's goal to kill Joel was fueled by her desire to return to a world before her father's death, but she discovers it impossible. After witnessing Owen's battle for light, she finds her own purpose in protecting Yara and Lev, which Druckmann felt mirrored Joel's redemption arc from the first game. Owen represents emotion in contrast to Abby's pessimism. The obstacles she overcomes when gathering medical supplies demonstrates the lengths to which she will go to help the children and redeem herself. Margenau felt that Abby was inspired to abandon her alliances after witnessing Lev's rebellious nature. Abby's plea to the Santa Barbara Rattlers to leave Lev alone is an intentional parallel with Ellie's plea to spare Joel earlier in the game. When Ellie holds Abby underwater in their final fight, Bailey held her breath while recording; she recalled that Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie, let her go when she saw Bailey's lips turning blue. Bailey felt that, in the game's conclusion, Abby understands Ellie's emotions, having dealt with her own father's death.

Appearance
Abby's father, Jerry Anderson, was a Firefly surgeon who Joel killed at the end of the first game to save Ellie. Four years later, in her early twenties, she tracks Joel down and beats him to death. Some time later, back in Seattle, Abby learns that her ex-boyfriend Owen has gone missing while investigating the Seraphites. The WLF leader, Isaac Dixon, believes he may have defected, and plans to assault the Seraphites' island settlement. Searching for Owen, Abby is captured and witnesses the Seraphites shatter the arm of a runaway Seraphite, Yara. After being rescued by Yara's younger brother Lev, they arrive at the aquarium, where Abby finds Owen. He plans to sail to Santa Barbara, where the Fireflies were supposedly regrouping. Yara's arm requires amputation, so Abby and Lev retrieve medical supplies from the hospital, which is overrun by Infected. Lev runs away to the Seraphite settlement to convince their mother to leave the cult. Abby and Yara pursue him, fending off an attack from Tommy.

At the settlement, they discover Lev has killed his devout mother in self-defense. As the WLF attack the settlement, Yara kills Isaac and sacrifices herself to let Abby and Lev escape. Abby and Lev return to the aquarium to find Owen and his pregnant girlfriend Mel killed and a map leading to Ellie's theater hideout. At the theater, Abby kills Jesse, shoots Tommy, and overpowers Ellie and Dina. Learning that Dina is pregnant, Abby spares them at Lev's insistence and warns them to leave. Some time later, Abby and Lev arrive in Santa Barbara searching for the Fireflies, but are captured by the Rattlers, slave-keeping bandits. After being weakened by weeks of torture, they are rescued by Ellie. Threatening to kill Lev, Ellie forces Abby to fight her. Ellie overpowers her, but lets her live. Abby sails away with Lev towards the Firefly base on Catalina Island.

Reception


Abby's character received generally positive feedback from critics, and Bailey's performance was highly praised. John Saavedra of Den of Geek lauded Bailey for bringing Abby to life and making the player empathize with her by the game's end. He lauded the character's camaraderie with her companions, particularly Manny. VG247's Caitlin Galiz-Rowe found Abby's redemption arc more believable and important than others in the game. Jason Sheehan of NPR wrote that witnessing the story through Abby's perspective proved that her revenge was "just as earned" as Ellie's. Kat Bailey of USgamer appreciated the ambition of the player switch, but felt that it "just barely" pulled it off. VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi concluded that Abby redeemed herself by sparing Ellie and praised Naughty Dog's ability to make the character likable by the game's end. Rafael Motamayor of Observer found Abby's story as interesting as Ellie's, and felt that its use within the story made Ellie a better character as well. Mashable's Jess Joho considered Abby's story to be more nuanced and compelling, but criticized both characters for relying too heavily on their relationships with their fathers; Joho felt that the story was at its best with Abby and Lev.

Abby's playable chapters were controversial among players, who had expected to control Ellie for the majority of the game. Writing for Collider, Dave Trumbore felt that Abby had been unfairly maligned by audiences, feeling they had failed to understand the story's message and subtext. Some players criticized Abby's muscular physique, and theories spread online that she was transgender; Polygons Patricia Hernandez and The Independents Amy Coles argued that this perception was a result of the lack of body diversity in games, and that the story showed Abby had the resources to achieve her physique. Bailey became the target of online death threats in response to the character; Naughty Dog released a statement condemning the threats, and Bailey was supported by James Gunn, Ashley Johnson, and Craig Mazin, among others.

For her role, Bailey won Best Performance at the Game Awards 2020 and from IGN, Performer in a Leading Role at the 17th British Academy Games Awards, and was co-winner of Outstanding Lead Performance in a Drama at the NAVGTR Awards with Johnson. Bailey is nominated for Best Voice Performance at the 19th Game Audio Network Guild Awards, and Abby is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Character at the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.