The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral.

The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral.

      Liane Hentscher / HBO

      Warning: This article contains significant spoilers from The Last of Us season 2, episode 2.

      The anticipated moment finally unfolded. Fans of the game recognized that this pivotal event would alter the series, and it took place during Sunday night’s episode of The Last of Us.

      In this episode, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) entices Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Dina (Isabela Merced) to the mansion where her companions are hiding. Once they enter, the group temporarily puts Dina to sleep, and Abby reveals her identity as the daughter of the doctor Joel killed in Salt Lake City.

      In her quest for revenge, Abby shoots Joel in the knee with a shotgun and subsequently attacks him with a golf club. Ellie eventually bursts into the room but is captured before she can rescue Joel. Ignoring Ellie’s desperate cries, Abby stabs Joel with a piece of the broken golf club, leading to his death. The group spares Ellie, who then crawls to Joel’s lifeless body and lies next to him.

      This heartbreaking scene has emerged as one of the most emotional moments portrayed in the series thus far. Dever faced a challenging time filming the scene, having lost her mother to metastatic breast cancer just weeks before production began.

      “I lost my mom two or three weeks before I actually shot this scene, and my mom’s funeral was three days prior to my first day,” Dever shared with EW. “I was kind of in a fog. I was in a daze.”

      Before taking Joel's life, Abby delivers a haunting monologue explaining how her father’s death led her to this moment. As stated by The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin, Abby’s speech to Joel conveyed that “what he did was wrong” and emphasized that “we kill for the people we love.” Since this speech is not part of the game, Dever utilized it to illustrate Abby’s internal conflicts.

      “This deeply human aspect of her has struggled for so long, and she’s searching for a way out of that struggle,” Dever elaborated. “Yet, this is what connects all the characters in that room: they are all deeply flawed humans in various ways.”

      The third episode of The Last of Us season 2 is set to air at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, April 27, on HBO, and will also be available for streaming on Max.

      Dan is a dedicated and versatile content creator with expertise in pop culture, entertainment, and sports.

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The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral. The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral. The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral. The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral. The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral. The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral.

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The Last of Us: Kaitlyn Dever recorded Abby's scenes alongside Joel just days after her mother's funeral.

Following the shocking episode of The Last of Us on Sunday night, Kaitlyn Dever shared how she shot those scenes soon after experiencing a family tragedy.