The Last of Us Season 3 Risks Everything With Bold Abby Takeover—Will Fans Accept the Franchise’s Biggest Gamble Yet?

Warning: SPOILERS for The Last of Us Season 2 below!

HBO is taking a massive swing with The Last of Us Season 3—and not everyone is ready for it. With the shocking announcement that Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby will now lead the series, the franchise is boldly shifting focus from its iconic duo, Joel and Ellie, to one of the most controversial characters in the franchise’s history. And fans are split.

After a polarizing Season 2 that saw Pedro Pascal’s Joel brutally killed in Episode 4, Season 3 is doubling down on the chaos. Abby—once viewed as a villain by many players of The Last of Us Part II—is being reimagined as the show’s emotional core. The new season will rewind the timeline and reframe the past from Abby’s perspective, introducing her Washington Liberation Front allies and delivering a more human, vulnerable look at the woman who shattered Ellie’s world.

This bold pivot marks the franchise’s most daring narrative experiment yet, and it’s one that tests the very limits of what makes video game adaptations so difficult. The truth is, games like The Last of Us aren’t designed to follow traditional TV logic. They jump timelines, switch perspectives, and—most controversially—kill off beloved characters without warning. For a series that built its success on the relationship between Joel and Ellie, this shift threatens to alienate audiences still mourning Joel’s death.

And yet, there’s potential brilliance in this chaos.

Abby’s arc, especially in Part II, is one of layered trauma, grief, and vengeance. With Kaitlyn Dever at the helm—an actress known for grounding even the most complex characters—Season 3 has the potential to give Abby the redemption arc that viewers never expected to want. It’s a risky move, yes, but one that mirrors the original game’s narrative bravery.

However, Season 3 won’t just be about Abby. Familiar faces like Ellie, Jesse, Dina, and Tommy will still play key roles as the show revisits Seattle, a location now etched in fan memory. The challenge will be ensuring The Last of Us still feels like the same show, even as it mutates into something new.

What HBO is attempting has rarely been done successfully in television. The emotional anchors of the show are being removed and replaced with figures who were once seen as antagonists. That could be a storytelling masterstroke—or a catastrophic misfire.

But The Last of Us has been planting the seeds for this tonal evolution since Season 1. The Kansas City arc, featuring Kathleen and Perry, was a thematic warning shot—revenge begets revenge. Season 3 is ready to explore that cycle in full, through Abby’s eyes.

The big question now: Will fans follow her into the abyss?

Season 3 is coming, and it’s not holding anything back. For better or worse, The Last of Us is about to become a completely different show. And that might just be what makes it unforgettable.