There’s unfathomable buzz surrounding The Last of Us‘ upcoming second season, which will presumably adapt Naughty Dog’s sequel title in the ongoing game series, The Last of Us: Part II. As we’re nearing the end of season one (just two episodes left!), there’s plenty of discussion happening regarding the new cast of character that will be joining Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, but none more significant than Abby Anderson, Ellie’s archenemy in Part II. Abby is an acquired taste; you either love her or you hate her, and as far as we can tell, there’s no in-between and very few fans who feel indifferent towards her. When Part II released back in 2020, Abby did some, well… questionable things, and it sparked outrage among the fandom. So much, in fact, that Abby’s face model and voice actress were both receiving an unprecedented amount of hate — even going so far as death threats. It’ll certainly cause uproar when HBO introduces Abby, so whomever takes on the role must be prepared for an onslaught of nasty messages.
We’ve fan-cast our own Abby, just like the rest of the internet seems to be doing, but there’s one actor in particular whose name has been attached to Abby’s likeness for quite some time. At first, it seemed like she might be a viable option, but as The Last of Us fans consider it more thoroughly, maybe she isn’t the best fit. We first saw Florence Pugh rise to stardom with 2019’s Midsommar, but her most prominent role to date is undoubtedly her run as Yelena Belova — sister to Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow — in the MCU. She made her debut in the Black Widow solo movie, providing heaps of comedic relief to a role that she reprised for Disney Plus’ Hawkeye series. Although Pugh does resemble Abby somewhat, fans aren’t convinced that she’ll be worth pursuing in the long run, as they’re convinced of far better choices out there.
Before we go on to the actual reasons why Pugh wouldn’t suit Abby, it’s best to mention that a lot of TLOU fans would rather see Abby removed from the second season altogether and her storyline scrapped rather than see any actress embody her in live-action. Unfortunately for such a well-written character, that seems to be a sentiment shared by far too many gamers who’ve been exposed to Abby’s true nature. The whole Ellie vs. Abby morality debate has been ongoing since 2020 and will continue to kick up a fuss when The Last of Us airs its second season.
As for the actual analogy of Pugh and Abby, it’s plain to see why — physically — she doesn’t fit the bill. For starters, while Pugh did hours of grueling workouts to prepare for her Black Widow stunts, she was more toning her body to withstand the pressure of hardcore acting rather than bulking up. That’s a major problem already, especially as Abby is known to be especially sturdy for a female. She’s got prominent muscles, almost superhuman strength and even holds her own in fights against males who would presumably take her down in no time. For Pugh, there’s no amount of gym sessions that could replicate Abby’s well-built body in such a short amount of time, assuming the second season begins shooting soon-ish once the dust settles on the finale.
There’s plenty of fans praising Florence as an actress, mentioning that they “love” her and she’s “amazing,” but as far as Abby goes, she’s just not the right person to do her justice. In the original Twitter post, The Wilds actress Shannon Berry was suggested as Pugh’s competition, but although she isn’t particularly buff either, she seems to be the more popular choice by a country mile.
If the producers and casting directors have been listening to their audience, Pugh won’t be cast as Abby any time soon. That being said, it wouldn’t be the first time that production crews have made decisions in their own best interest over that of the fandom’s. One of the most favorable choices for Abby would be WWE’s Ronda Rousey, which is a rather unconventional choice (given her limited acting experience), but she certainly ticks every other box, so we’ll see.