One Last Of Us Season 2 Cast Member Required Additional Security On Set For A Sad Reason

"The Last of Us" was one of the biggest and best shows of 2023, a video game adaptation that was both faithful to its source material and also unafraid to change or expand things when it made for a better story in a different medium — including giving one of the single best episodes of the past couple of years. While we wait for the second season to adapt the second game in the series and expand the world with new locations and characters, there's the knowledge that the franchise is about to get very controversial.

So controversial that HBO is already preparing by having extra security on the set of "The Last of Us" season 2. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, actor Isabela Merced — who will play Dina in season 2 of the show — said that HBO hired the extra security in order to protect Kaitlyn Dever on set. Dever is set to play Abigail "Abby" Anderson, the dual protagonist of "The Last of Us Part II." According to Merced the security is because some online crybabies have major opinions on the fictional character from the video game. 

"There's so many strange people in this world because there are people that actually genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person," Merced said during the podcast. "Kaitlyn had to be extra secured by security when it came to the filming of this."

Without diving into spoilers, the character of Abby is a soldier who is responsible for some big drama in the video game. Because the game forces you to swap perspectives and play as Abby as much as you play Ellie, online misogynists began finding excuses to hate on the character — from her looking not traditionally feminine, to speculating that the character is trans.

When "The Last of Us Part II" was released, Abby's actor, Laura Bailey (a successful and beloved voice over actor) received such online abuse that it threatened both her life and also her son's. "Every time I went online, that's all I saw. Death threats and threats of violence," she said in a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the game.

"What confuses me is the showrunner and creator of the video game, they work together to make this, so if you like what the guy made and he's making more of it, why are you mad?" Merced continued. "I'm too opinionated to be on Twitter. I see this stuff on Twitter, and it makes me want to go Cardi B on them."

At the very least, hearing that HBO is actually doing something about this is reassuring, considering how often female actors face online harassment and threats and studios stay silent. Even Kevin Feige mostly avoided the question when asked how Marvel protects its cast from online abuse and their films from getting review-bombed.