HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 premiere spotlights the Abby-Joel conflict. While her teammates mourn the Firefly massacre, Abby harbors a deeply personal vendetta against Ellie’s guardian. She’s hunting Joel specifically, setting up a dangerous collision course with Pedro Pascal’s character to avenge the death of her family member.
Here’s why Abby wants to kill Joel in The Last of Us Season 2
Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) has clear reasons to want to kill Joel (Pedro Pascal), the person who shot her father. As per The Last of Us Part II game, Abby’s father is Jerry Anderson, the surgeon who was ready to cut open Ellie’s brain to make the cure for millions.
While Abby’s character did not appear in season 1 of The Last of Us, the gaming universe reveals that Abby was with her father before he was called off to check the immune girl (Ellie) who has finally arrived at the Firefly station. (via the Last of Us Part II wiki)
As Joel gets to know that Ellie would not survive the surgery, he decides on his course of action. Before killing Anderson, Joel killed the rest of the Firefly squad who were at the building. However, the gaming narrative suggests Abby was coming behind Joel to prevent him from killing the unit members.
Despite her best efforts, she did not reach the surgery room in time and could not save his father. The flashback scenes of Abby and Joel inside the Firefly building could be in season 2.
The first episode of The Last of Us season 2 has revealed Abby’s continuous quest to hunt down Joel has crossed the five-year mark. At the end of the episode, it seems like Abby and her team have reached Wyoming. But Wyoming is not just Joel’s shelter; it is the safe community space of his brother Tommy and an entire population.
Abby’s arrival in Wyoming also poses another threat for Joel and Ellie’s parent-daughter relationship. Joel’s therapy session with Gail clearly reveals that Ellie is still in the dark about what happened to Marlene and other Firefly members.
So, when Abby confronts Joel, Ellie might get to know the actual truth about her brain surgery. Earlier, Joel “swore” upon Ellie and still did not reveal the truth. Hence, Abby’s knowledge coming to light could mean Ellie and Joel would drift apart even further.
