Warning: This article contains major spoilers for The Last of Us’ April 20 episode “Through the Valley.”
Kaitlyn Dever‘s role on The Last of Us hit a little too close to home.
The actress recently shared that her mother Kathy died from breast cancer weeks before she started filming the HBO series’ second season. And adding even more emotional weight to her plate was the fact that her character Abby Anderson was also grieving the loss of a parent.
In fact, in season two’s shocking second episode, Abby kills Pedro Pascal‘s character Joel Miller as revenge for the death of her father, who Joel killed when he stopped the militia group from operating on Bella Ramsey’s Ellie in season one.
“To be as honest as possible,” Kaitlyn told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published after the April 20 episode, “I will just say that my days leading up to this scene were horrible.”
“It was just a massive scene emotionally, and with blocking, too,” the 28-year-old added of the scene, which was the first one she shot as Abby. “There were so many moving parts and so many things to navigate.”
The Emmy-nominated actress went on to describe what it was like having to film such an emotional scene just days after her mother’s funeral.
“I lost my mom two or three weeks before I actually shot this scene,” Kaitlyn shared, “and my mom’s funeral was three days before I did my first day. So I was sort of in a fog. I was in a daze.”
The Last of Us‘ co-showrunner Craig Mazin remembered handling the unthinkable situation with care as they filmed the episode.
“We said, ‘Take your time. Take all the time you need,'” Mazin recalled to EW. “While I care extraordinarily about the show, it’s a TV show. I’m not going to disrupt someone’s grieving process for their own parent, especially [with] a show that’s partly about the grieving process.”
Kaitlyn first shared the news of Kathy’s death with the world back in February 2024 with a heartfelt post on Instagram after her mother lost her 14-year battle with breast cancer.
“My mama. My life. My everything,” she captioned the slideshow of mother-daughter photos. “I don’t even have the words. Nothing I’ll ever say will amount to the gifts you have given me in my life, the boundless joy you brought, the deep, endless, unconditional love you gave me and our family.”
“Your love was like sunshine,” the Dopesick actress continued, “warmed me when I needed it the most and made me smile when I was ever sad. You were everyone’s favorite. You are my favorite. The sweetest in the world. I will be broken forever without you and I don’t know how I’ll go on.”
Kaitlyn continued by paying homage to everything that her mother meant to her and to celebrate everything that she’ll miss about her now that she’s gone.
“You were the greatest mom and wife anyone could ever ever ask for,” she wrote. “Thank you for fighting so hard for us for so long. I am forever, forever, grateful for the special time we got to spend with you, sweet mama…it will never be enough.”
“I miss your smile, your sense of humor, your hugs, your kisses, getting to hold your hand, more than anything in the world,” Kaitlyn finished. “You made everything better. My sweetest, beautiful girl. My best friend. Oh how much I love you. What a gift it is to love you. I love you forever and ever, Mom.”
