Why The Last of Us Revealed Abby (& Her Plot Twist) So Early, Explained

The Last of Us ’ second season took two very long years to arrive, but some people, the original game’s fans in particular, might not be that excited anymore.

The premiere episode’s opening scene was a huge and pretty much intended spoiler which, according to many, has already ruined the whole intrigue for the remaining six episodes to come.

However, Abby’s hectic introduction and the revelation of her entire plan regarding revenge towards Joel was The Last of Us team’s intention all along, and they might be right too.

The Last of Us Creators Had a Reason to Play Fast With Abby

Even though it might have spoiled a big surprise for many of those who never played the original video game, it seems like The Last of Us’ production team in fact had no other choice but to introduce Abby and her intentions as soon as possible.

“When we put out The Last of Us Part II, you have the entire story and you decide how you want to pace it out. Here we’re putting out episodes week by week, which are roughly an hour long. If we were to wait as much as we did in the game to reveal certain things, our viewers might have to wait a very, very long time — longer than we were comfortable with”, the series’ co-creator Neil Druckmann revealed in an interview with The Verge.

Still, it wasn’t the only reason for the TV adaptation to stay away from Abby’s original storyline as, according to Druckmann, a different format wouldn’t allow the viewers to connect to the character in a right way.

“We were able to keep certain things a mystery for much longer, because you were playing as Abby, trying to keep her alive, fighting the infected. We don’t have that in the show. So we needed something else — through drama, through backstory — to get you to sympathize with her”, the writer said.

What Fans Say About Abby’s Storyline in The Last of Us Season 2

It’s fair to say the show’s fandom quickly got divided over the decision to give Abby’s mystery away right in the very beginning, with the TV adaptation’s fans mostly being fine with it and the original game’s players feeling different.

“Man, revealing Abby’s intentions in the first 10 minutes really lessens the mystique of the entire season. One of the things I loved upon my initial playthrough of the second game was that I had no idea who she was or how she was related to the story…” Redditor ComebackChemist wrote right after the first episode premiered on Max.

“Agreed except for showing Abby and her motivation at the beginning. I like that the game catches you off guard. The audience shouldn’t need grounding. The surprise is what makes it powerful and in a world this chaotic they should play it that way. That there’s no rules anything can happen”, Tanprints said in a reply to another comment.

When & Where to Watch The Last of Us?

The Last of Us’ season 2 episode 2 is premiering on Max on April 20; each following episode is set to arrive on the platform one by one every Sunday.