“The Final of Us” co-creator Neil Druckmann confirmed at Monday evening’s FYC panel that Season 3 will concentrate on Kaitlyn Dever‘s character, Abby.

Whereas discussing the quantity of inventive freedom HBO grants the present, Druckmann mentioned, “I can’t consider that they allow us to construction the sequence on this method, that means like, we simply ended Season 2, and Season 3 goes to be starring — spoiler alert — Kaitlyn.”

Season 2 ended with a swap in perspective from Bella Ramsey’s character, Ellie, to Abby.

Dever, who joined the panel nearly, additionally spoke about taking over the character of Abby, contemplating that she notably killed fan-favorite Joel (Pedro Pascal) in the beginning of Season 2. “I suppose the controversy surrounding Abby was by no means actually a priority for me, simply given my first assembly with Craig and Neil and the way great they’re and the way gifted they’re,” she mentioned.

“I’ve by no means felt so carried on a set in my life,” Dever continued, “I do know we simply watched Episode 2, doing that scene within the chalet… I used to be going by way of loads personally, nevertheless it was one of many biggest experiences I’ve ever had as an actor, simply because it actually, actually felt like such a workforce effort.”

The panel, moderated by Rob McElhenney, additionally featured co-creator Craig Mazin and solid members Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Isabela Merced and Younger Mazino.

Mazin mentioned that Joel’s dying, which is depicted within the second “Final of Us” online game, made sense thematically for the sequence. “In a present the place we try to preserve issues as grounded as attainable, and we would like individuals to really feel in actual hazard, then sure, typically the folks that we will’t think about dying die. That’s as a result of, for me, this isn’t a present about revenge. It’s a present about grief,” he mentioned.

Ellie’s Season 2 journey headed towards vengeance, formed by the connection she has with Joel.

“We see Ellie at 19 now as a substitute of 14, which is a giant change for anyone, however particularly in the event you’re dwelling in an apocalypse with form of like a pseudo-dad, who has a pair points,” mentioned Ramsey. “I feel if she simply cherished him a lot and didn’t additionally hate him a lot for what he did, I feel it will nearly be easier for her, however I feel due to how advanced that relationship has change into, she’s so pushed for justice to be accomplished, form of past justice, and it will get into some sort of harmful territory together with her.”

Ramsey was additionally requested in regards to the resolution to speak about their neurodivergence publicly. The actor introduced earlier this 12 months that they’d been recognized with autism.

“I simply form of ended up speaking about it. I feel as a result of it does inform a lot of what I do and the way I do it — I discovered I acquired recognized throughout Season 1 of filming, and so coming into Season 2, understanding this about myself was really simply actually useful, and is useful to me daily,” Ramsey defined. “And so it’s simply part of who I’m.”

The opposite actors additionally talked about constructing their characters.

Luna mentioned that Tommy “is just as sturdy as his capacity to embrace others and to unite individuals, to know his weaknesses and understand how weak he’s, and search others and search the energy of a household and group.”

Relating to Dina and the romance she begins with Ellie, Merced mentioned that “a whole lot of that pleasure and that freewheeling spirit power was in a position to thrive inside me as a result of Bella was there. Bella made me really feel very snug. Bella made me really feel very heard.”

Merced additionally discovered that Mazin would incorporate her personal character and humor into the writing. Plus, she drew from the individuals in her life to tell the character, together with her personal mother: “The one cause why Dina is lovable in any respect might be as a result of I put the love I’ve for others into her,” she added.

Mazino additionally pulled inspiration from a member of the family — his dad — for the character of Jesse.: “I’ve been personally fairly impulsive and reckless and impressive with my very own life. And since I used to be on the surface, I felt like I may achieve this, I didn’t really feel like I belonged anyplace specifically. However for Jesse — my dad is somebody who you’ll be able to rely on and actually depend on in any scenario, any given scenario, so I wanted to merge that.”