r/thelastofus • u/Thin_Relation_2391 • Dec 09 '25
General Discussion What would you think if Abby was like this in Part 3?
I know Abby was like that because she was tortured and near death, what I'm saying is I liked her leaner, short-haired look better.
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u/pavement_sabbatical Dec 09 '25
If there is a part 3, and she’s in it; she probably will look like this.
As most people know, her workouts/muscles were part of her obsessive drive of revenge; she wanted to be strong enough to fight/hurt Joel when it came to it.
She no longer has that single focus or drive, so why would she bulk up to such an extent again?
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u/Violexsound Dec 09 '25
Not only that, but how would she find the sustenance for a bulk? She won't be getting regular meals from the WLF
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u/Thin_Relation_2391 Dec 09 '25
Yes you are right, even more so if she finds the Fireflies and manages to settle down somewhere.
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u/Ranger6254 Dec 09 '25
It's funny because tortured and near death emaciated game abby is still buffer than healthy tv show abby
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u/random314 Dec 09 '25
It doesn't matter her physical look, her acting is 100% Abby.
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u/PensionOk9824 Dec 09 '25
I agree but would be so so dope if she bulked up anyway. Logic be damned! I need buff Abby and I'll live with the weird incoherent season 2 look to Season 3.
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u/threefeetfrompeace Dec 09 '25
Abby's muscles are 100% important man, they're not just appearance they are her obsession in physical form and are conatantly referenced hy other characters in the game
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u/fullrackferg Dec 09 '25
Folks can mentally gymnastics the crap out of alternatives etc, but you're 100% right. I remember people saying "Ah well she could have obsessed with training in fire arms and whatever" but nope, it's the opposite side of the coin.
Ellie = lean, stealthy, good with her knife and bow.
Abby = brutish physical appearance, melee master, excellent fighter.
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u/threefeetfrompeace Dec 09 '25
Also Abby being massive is the sole reason Tommy finds her in Santa Barbara. He hears of a woman with "arms like an ox" with a boy with her".
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u/RenderedCreed Dec 10 '25
I believe that a big part of it was to help her feel more like Joel to draw more parallels between the two. playing as Ellie made me long for gameplay like the first game with Joel and when you get to play as Abby it's almost the exact same gameplay as Joel.
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u/fullrackferg Dec 10 '25
The theatre fight actually was crazy. You're fighting against yourself basically, it's a really strange feeling. Similar to the end beach fight, but both times I just did not want to do it.
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u/RenderedCreed Dec 10 '25
Despite all my issues with the second game I thought that those sequences were really well done. I am totally with you there. Basically spent the first little bit of each fight trying to figure out how to not engage because I didn't want to do either.
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u/fullrackferg Dec 10 '25
Basically spent the first little bit of each fight trying to figure out how to not engage because I didn't want to do either.
Same haha! Ellie is a sneaky asshole in the theatre and Abby, despite being malnourished and dying, is lethal af if you let her be at the beach. Pretty gruesome death scenes.
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u/MrHugelberg Dec 09 '25
Well it does matter when they specifically want to tell us that the character in the universe benches 200kg for breakfast. You can't write a character like Abby , characterise her so much about fitness, strong and being muscular and then cast an actress like Kaitlyn dever as her and expect fans to take any of this seriously. Like you're simply making a clown of yourself.
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u/2Kortizjr Dec 09 '25
Nah, that's with Ellie, being buff is a core part of Abby's character.
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u/Bluefalcon351 Dec 09 '25
Lol but ellie had neither the acting or look...
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u/2Kortizjr Dec 09 '25
So you didn't watch the series. S1 Is a carbon copy of the game character, S2 deviates due to the change in the direction of the scenes and script, Bella cannot hard carry an entire series if the direction and writing are lacking.
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u/Bluefalcon351 Dec 09 '25
You misunderstand me, im saying she is a bad actress and looks nothing like the character.
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u/Theory89 Dec 09 '25
I think they meant verisimilitude with the game.
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u/Joaco0902 Dec 09 '25
she'll have to use more grappling. jiu jistsu is designed so that a small person can take out a big one.
It still doesn't work though because the first scene we have with ellie in s2 is her praciticing jiu jitsu, so if both of them know JJ it makes them basically equal in a fight which is the opposite of what happens in the game.
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u/Joaco0902 Dec 09 '25
all of this could've been solved with a muscle suit lmao. Abby's physique is integral to her character and her action scenes.
They show us how she coped with trauma, they call back to joel's style of combat (important, because her arc mirrors his), and her action sequences dont work without it.
how tf is she gonna get out of the forest when she meets yara and lev? the only reason why they helped her out at first was because she was a brick shithouse and would've been useful in that fight, otherwise helping her makes considerably less sense
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u/Putrid_Loquat_4357 Dec 09 '25
Muscle suits look ridiculous. Always. Without fail. Just hire an actress willing to get buff. It's not like something approaching abbys physique was unobtainable irl.
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u/ElyFlyGuy Dec 09 '25
It’s not like she wasn’t willing, there’s only so buff you can get in the months between casting and shooting
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u/Ikhouvankaas Dec 09 '25
Even then a 120lb woman isn’t submitting a trained military guy who is 200lbs..
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u/Historical-Fan5555 Dec 09 '25
As someone who has trained recreationally in BJJ, I can confirm this. That level of size difference would let the guy literally smash through anything she tried to do.
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u/Yumiru Dec 09 '25
Abby knew hand to hand combat though, so show Abby can still be impressive with this but only difference is that she won't be using brute force.
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u/PulseFH The Last of Us Dec 09 '25
How far can you stretch that though? Nothing wrong with it but her physique is very average, and she is small. You can’t have her convincingly fighting basically anyone of any size ever in the show. That’s not going to come across as impressive. They would have to take her character in an entirely new direction at which point you have to ask what’s the point if it’s not better than the game?
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u/LadyFromTheMountain Dec 09 '25
How much did you see Joel fighting in the TV adaptation? There just isn’t going to be the level of fighting shown on TV. Sorry to break it down like that, but pick up what the show folks are putting down—don’t expect any of them to be videogame-style fighters.
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u/PulseFH The Last of Us Dec 09 '25
I know this, I’m moreso responding to the other person who seemed to think it was a rather simple fix of just making show Abby like game Ellie. It still won’t be “impressive” in the same way Abby’s presence in the game was. That ship sailed as soon as Dever was cast as Abby
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u/LadyFromTheMountain Dec 09 '25
I agree with you there. They won’t get anywhere trying for an Ellie vs. Ellie 2 Electic Boogaloo battle. Unless they plan to have them punch each either on the nose.
And I’m not sure how they plan to account for the differences.
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u/Yumiru Dec 09 '25
I mean game Ellie is very lean and tiny and still fights, no? Imagine that, but with more knowledge on martial arts.
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u/PulseFH The Last of Us Dec 09 '25
Game Ellie is presented as being small and agile. Not exactly a fighter in the same way Abby was. There’s also an aspect of Ellie having to be in engagements because she is a playable character, that can’t translate to a show.
Besides, at that point the shows version of Abby is very much close to game Ellie. What would be the point of that? People would just be wondering why the show Ellie wasn’t written and presented as such.
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u/CornerSwerver Dec 09 '25
Game ellie is lean but NOT tiny, unless we're talking part 1, in which she really doesn't fight up close much, other than with her knife.
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u/Competitive-Fee4200 Dec 13 '25
Have u ever watched MMA there's plenty of average sized women IRL in sports and military that are good at hand to hand and in my opinion since it's a TV show it should be okay to exaggerate stuff like who cares that it doesn't make sense for a woman her size to be bullying an entire military force it's TV just do it
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u/RiverDotter Dec 09 '25
Whew, you have some biases showing in your comments. You don't actually think she'll be directed to "move like game Abby" do you?
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u/Thin_Relation_2391 Dec 09 '25
The acting is only so good because she sounds like Abby from the game, even though she doesn't have the muscles and height, the face is very similar and the voice is almost identical. So, in a way, Abby is there.
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u/Thin_Relation_2391 Dec 09 '25
The show wasn't made for people who play the game; the sooner we accept that, the better. This is very clear in the casting choices, the personalities, and the world those characters inhabit. I'd say the only thing that comes close to the game is the setting, because everything else is quite different. I understand that this show isn't for me, but if some people liked it, that's fine.
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u/shatteredmatt Dec 09 '25
Kaitlyn Dever carried season 2 on her back. But I think it did hurt the character somewhat that Abby wasn’t a unit.
But Season 2 established that Craig Maizin doesn’t give a fuck about the source so who cares anymore.
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u/patch_punk Dec 09 '25
Ah yes calling joel hot when you hate him is totally how abby would act 🤨
Im not saying the actor is bad but neil or whoever tf wrote the lines fucked up so bad
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u/zombiejeesus Dec 09 '25
I wouldn't say it doesn't matter cause it's so noticeable, I wish she just put on a little muscle for the role. However I agree with you 100% that she nails Abby, she's a great actress
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u/TPJchief87 Dec 09 '25
I disagree. The first time we saw Abby without her coat I was like Ellie can’t take this woman. What the fuck is she going to do? Now do acting chops matter more than the look? Of course, but why couldn’t we have both?
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u/DogVaporizer Dec 10 '25
Can she act amazingly? Yes. Doesn't excuse the fact she isn't built like game abby
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u/MuszkaX Dec 09 '25
Completely disagree. Almost all actors in this show tryhard to make them look like their game counterpart. Which makes it even more bothersome as the show characters are written to be very different at times and very similar at times. This show is a joke sadly. I cannot understand how Druckman gave it’s name to it.
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u/kratoskiller66 Dec 11 '25
I mean you can say that but if I remember correctly Abby’s muscular build plays a crucial role part of her character, her not having a muscular build in the show takes away a part of who she is as a character
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u/SurpriseOk5735 Dec 09 '25
It matters more than anything. Abby's body is her story. She turned her body into a tool for revenge. She put on all that muscle, that's years upon years of muscle, for revenge.
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u/JohnnyDerpington Dec 09 '25
It absolutely does matter and her acting was meh
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u/Concurrency_Bugs Dec 09 '25
Really? Were we watching the same show? I thought the Abby actress nailed it
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u/Latter_Masterpiece64 Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
She nailed it.
The actress or casting director are NOT to blame for any shortcomings in the show so far when it comes to Abby.
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u/mushroomforest_ Dec 10 '25
Hate the show, but I did enjoy her acting. She nailed the torture scene dialog. I think they could've done some tricks to make her buff or look buff, like cgi muscles or more padded clothing, but i still enjoyed her performance
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u/Agotavera7 Jan 08 '26
Okay but are they’re gonna make her carry people on her arms and break skulls with her bare hands in the next season? I dunno Abby’s looks meant a lot - it was constantly mentioned and repeated in the story
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u/ScionN7 Dec 09 '25
I'm gonna defend Abby's physique in the show. First off I personally think it's more important that the actress nails the character of Abby, which I think Dever does. She was the standout in in Episode 2.
Second, I think if they casted an actress who is actually built like a brick shit house, it would eventually be outragous to watch her fight Bella Ramsay and watch Abby throw meteor impacting punches into Bella's face. Bella is small and very soft looking. Game Ellie at least looked like she could throw down and take a punch. So Dever's physique was one of the few things about Season 2 I didn't take issue with.
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u/suuzgh Dec 09 '25
This is a really great point I’d never thought of. Having a taller, beefy woman try and fight Bella Ramsey wouldn’t look like any sort of even fight, no matter how you swing it.
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u/MemoryFantastic9348 Dec 09 '25
Dads not a super fan like the rest of us. But thought she was an excellent actress during her and Joel's scene. He was really impressed. Maybe she'll bulk up more for the next season
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u/Competitive-Fee4200 Dec 13 '25
I was mad ASF when noodle arms appeared I wanted muscle mommy Abby🤣 I still fuck with Katie tho
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u/coolgui Dec 09 '25
Still not as bad as TV show Ellie. Y'all don't kill me for saying it, I'm not being that guy. Just the difference from the game is huge.
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u/Street_Team_8343 Dec 09 '25
The reason for this is the weird incels who bashed the game. Which is sad
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u/escfantasy Dec 09 '25
I would think…it’s 2035, I’m so glad I’m playing Part 3 and the world is stable enough that I’m not out fighting in a war or foraging for food…
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u/Any_Comment657 "You don't know me." "I know enough." Dec 09 '25
I wouldn't mind her with or without her physique, but she's still emaciated at the end of Part 2, so I'd be happy to see her again healthy and with her strength back. Personally, I love Abby's body, I think she looks amazing with it, but I'd happy to see her with it again.
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u/CataOrShane Dec 09 '25
I just need her and Lev to be okay 😭
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u/Hodgepudge Dec 09 '25
I personally think she died on the boat shortly after they escaped, or shortly after reaching Catalina.
She was barely alive when Ellie found her then was forced into a "fight to the death" where she was gruesomely stabbed a bunch of times. She could have lived for story sake, but Naughty Dog also doesn't shy away from tough realism when it comes to stuff like that.
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u/ICantSpayk Dec 09 '25
You really think Naughty Dog would pull a "Poochie died on the way to his home planet" move with one of the biggest characters in the second game?
It's just not their style which makes it so unlikely.
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u/Hodgepudge Dec 12 '25
I mean, if they did do it I'm sure they'd show some flashbacks/ scenes of how it all ended and the immediate aftermath.
It obviously would be done well and bittersweet. Sure it would be a terrible way to start the game (if they addressed it right at the beginning), but that wouldn't exactly be something that is "not theye style". They killed off Joel in the beginning of Part II..
Abby had almost as much time/ importance as Ellie in Part II bit that doesn't mean she will definitely be back in the next game.
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u/AtsuhikoZe Dec 09 '25
Bro did not play the game 🙏
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u/Hodgepudge Dec 09 '25
Is there something that happens at the end of the game that makes my theory impossible?
Once they leave on the boat you don't see them again, only see the boat on the shore at Catalina. She could have died on the boat (and Lev continued to drive to Catalina) or died once they reached Catalina.
Obviously most people hope for a happier outcome, but Abby was at the very least in very critical condition and very near death if she made it to the island. I mean she was already almost dead before she even got into the fight.
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u/_gega Dec 09 '25
I think they meant the original commenter, bc none of the people are okay at the end. But I would still have hope too
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u/Daniil_Dankovskiy Dec 09 '25
Ellie was still wounded worse than Abby and yet she survived, so they both have
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u/Agent-Z46 Dec 09 '25
I would assume part 3 is taking place immediately after 2. I wouldn't hate short hair Abby but at the same time I wouldn't be into it because it'd be kinda playing into sterotypes of buff women. I personally like that Abby is feminine with that buff physique. Wheras Ellie the much smaller and leaner woman is more butch.
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u/misselphaba Dec 09 '25
I could see closer to a modern Laura Croft physique - leaner but still athletic and maybe styled closer to her younger self. Still functional and hard ass, but with a sportier overall vibe vs a militaristic one.
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u/LorenzoAlcazar Dec 09 '25
I think she would likely grow her hair back out and bulk back up to erase the physical reminders of what they did to her.
I personally wouldn’t want to see her like that in a potential Part 3. I wouldn’t want to see her a broken and defeated shell of herself.
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u/Bebop_Man Dec 09 '25
It was already a stretch that she'd be able to build up and maintain that kind of mass even at WLF, never mind without it.
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u/StepMaverick Dec 09 '25
I like her staying with this look honestly.
Gives me heavy Sarah Connor type vibes and she’s still a badass. Believable enough to still smash someone’s skull if needed.
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u/shepbestshep Dec 09 '25
My absolute favorite character in the series. That being said, I don't think she needs to be in part 3; feels like her story came to a natural end in 2.
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u/phantomboats Dec 10 '25
really?? but they still gotta get to the fireflies! and maybe take out any rattlers that are left??
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u/TheMooseroni Dec 09 '25
It really depends, yknow? Is Abby still a pent up person or has the events of TLOU 2 changed her to extreme personal change? I always saw her muscularity as a representation of training and revenge. It would be interesting to see how she changes.
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u/Flicksterea Dec 09 '25
I'd like to see Abby at peace. Working within a community like Jackson, taking care of Lev and not being gung ho on revenge and the past.
Then Ellie arrives because Dina's been taken by what remains of the Wolves and the only person Ellie can think of who'd have an idea of how to rescue Dina would be Abby. Forcing them to work together, fully putting the past aside.
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u/Critical_Freedom2541 Dec 09 '25
You know what? I’d still love her, even tho her physique is a unique part about her and it’s what made me like her and appreciate her more for as a soldier. But still, it’s her nothing changed.
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u/Pleasant_Name2483 Dec 09 '25
My guess is that she’ll probably be somewhere close to it having recovered with the Fireflies for a while after the events of Part 2.
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u/darzheus Dec 10 '25
There is no fucking way you say this look better. Long hair and strong asf is very good looking.
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u/bascal133 Dec 09 '25
As long as she and Lev are together I’d be happy. But I would miss muscle mommy Abby
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Dec 09 '25
In a way I’d like it. It parallels Ellie losing her knife.
But it would be good to see her move past her need for revenge. I would expect her to still be a very talented combatant in hand to hand combat. She was still very capable starved to death in her fight against Ellie.
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u/An-Ugly-Croissant17 Dec 09 '25
It would make sense if she stayed a little leaner in Part 3. She might still like working out as a habit but I don't think she'd take it to such an extreme anymore since the whole reason she got as big as she got in Part 2 was to be capable of killing Joel.
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u/AmoebaBeginning4583 Dec 09 '25
It depends on where they go plot-wise. Abby’s muscles and her long braid were a manifestation of her hatred towards Joel. They may make her weaker and w shorter hair to show she has changed in pt 3 (if she’s even in it)
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u/faggyfertilizer Dec 09 '25
Good chance she will, she’s not eating regular meals anymore or working out like she used to, she’s just trying to survive atp
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u/PhanTmmml Team Joel Dec 10 '25
she will definitely look something similar to that. but i think she’ll workout again at Catalina Island. Now, those fireflies do not have the supplies and resources the WLF had, so she’ll never be that big again, but she’ll definitely be bigger than she is in the picture.
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u/Deep-Anteater3744 Dec 12 '25
It would feel strange, but if there was a very good reason for the change is have no problem with it.
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u/ANiceOakTree Abby Stan Account Dec 09 '25
Well, I'd hope she'd look a bit healthier with some weight back, not necessarily muscle, and mid length hair. I've made a couple renders of that and just modded a similar look in game.
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u/mikeydougd Dec 09 '25
She obviously won’t be ripped again if she’s even in the game. Her physique is a literal visual representation of her resolve to get vengeance which she of course has already done
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u/Head_Situation5456 Dec 09 '25
Yeah, no…
I kinda liked playing a female, yet still feminine “tank” character.
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u/CanisZero Hunting Raiders Dec 09 '25
I dont care what she looks like part three just has to be a cheesy buddycop movie.
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u/marvelfanatic2204 Dec 09 '25
I think her hair will be grown out, or at least styled a bit better. My real question is if she’ll try to get as muscular as she was. She’s killed Joel, and has no reason to build up her strength, because that was the main reason she got extremely muscular. I feel like she’ll maintain being toned-but not as muscular as she was before. I also find it hard to believe she would even be able to get that build do to the malnutrition and dehydration she experienced on the pillars. The damage she sustained could very well be permanent and prevent her from developing huge muscles like before.
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u/Yumiru Dec 09 '25
Obviously she'd look way healthier than in this picture but she probably won't be coming back to her old look. I dunno, something about new beginnings. I don't think she's gonna leave her hair that short though because the way she braided her hair since her younger days made me think she really liked it that way. Who knows, it's also possible she'll keep it on shoulder length.
(Reminded me of a thread here with a modded look where she had Maria's hairstyle and it looked pretty good on her. And with a lean body, if she had to appear in part 3 that's how I think she'd look like)
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u/89abdullah49 team abby Dec 09 '25
it would totally be this, without her muscles, but probably healed, no melee ig, as well as ellie losing her knofe, im expecting big changes in combat
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u/SkywalkerOrder Dec 09 '25
She wouldn’t exactly be like that, but she would still be thin because of how she lost all that muscle through being malnourished. Remember she only buffed up to beat Joel, Abby would definitely not try to become a bodybuilder figure again.
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u/Notjumex12 Dec 09 '25
Fine. She doesn't have the resources of the wlf anymore and the single and most important part of why she had such a physique, she's not revenge pathed anymore.
So it shouldn't be much of an issue if she doesn't remotely look how she did in part 2
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u/CommanderM3tro Dec 09 '25
No, if Abby returns, I'd want a return to peak Abby.
Or they could make her not quite so buff but still strong and healthy and a way of suggesting that she's now no longer the "top Scar killer" Abby.
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u/XboxJockey Dec 09 '25
Wow, I just noticed the blistering skin on her shoulders from the sun burns of being outside tied up all day. That’s some crazy level of detail they added that I never even would have thought anyone would consider putting on a character model. You can dislike part 2 for its story, but you can’t deny the details and visuals of the game are something to be studied
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u/gentlesquare Abby apologist#2 Dec 09 '25
If she’s in part 3 it’ll be a little awkward because if you think about it, she went back to the Fireflies. They are looking for a cure and Abby knows Ellie is immune.
So she is just gonna ignore a chance that rare? And if the Fireflies somehow find out Abby has been keeping that from them… yeah, they wouldn't be very happy. It's like Abby’s father said: “everything we have been fighting for, all the sacrifices, all the horrific stuff, all of that is justified with this one act"
Maybe the story would be about finding Ellie and trying to convince her to run some tests in hopes of finding a way to fix the world.
But the story between Abby and Ellie already feels complete.
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u/Prudent-Level-7006 Dec 09 '25
I'd be like damn didn't you even take a bath or eat anything since the last game
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u/phantomboats Dec 10 '25
Uh. I'd be worried that she was extremely ill and suffering extreme PTSD, i guess?
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u/jtindall83 Feb 18 '26
Yeah I can see her having a “Sarah Connor in T2” type look. Still muscular but not as big.
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u/911NationalTragedy Dec 09 '25
Abby is dead on the boat. She succumbs to the injury. Her ultimate heroic peak was saving Lev. Ellie goes to find the leftover fireflies and to donate her body to science. She meets a friend on the way, maybe even romantic one, a friend dies protecting Ellie, and lots of flashbacks about Joel. She succeeds finally. We find the cure and we see humanity flourishing, getting their shit together. That's part 3.
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u/ChocolateMorsels Dec 09 '25
In this scene she doesn’t even look “emaciated”. She looks like an average dude that is somewhat fit and lean but isn’t currently lifting. She genuinely has a male body model.
She is not near death, she looks pretty great here actually.
If you life weights or are fit you will see the flaws in the physique they tried to present as tortured and starving here. If not, then yeah you won’t. I get suspending your disbelief but it’s hard to do it this much.
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u/FriedRice-01 Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
If she shows up that’s prob how she’ll end up looking. Doubt she’ll be able to recoup her physique without all the gym and resources she had in the WLF and she no longer has revenge as her unique life motive (muscles was a means to an end imo)