Characters of The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II, a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, focuses on two lead characters: Ellie, who sets out for revenge after suffering a great tragedy, and Abby Anderson, a soldier who becomes involved in a conflict between her militia and a cult.

Ellie is joined by several companions in the game, including her girlfriend Dina, friend Jesse, and Joel's brother Tommy.

One of the writers' goals was to create multifaceted characters, especially in Ellie, and they wanted to explore the vulnerabilities of Abby to ensure that the player could empathize with her.

[7] Writer and director Neil Druckmann found that all three playable characters—Joel in the first game, and Ellie and Abby in Part II—mirror each other as they are all suffering with overcoming trauma and "quietening their demons".

[9] Druckmann found that players acted differently when forced to play as Ellie in the first game, and wanted to replicate a similar change with Abby in Part II.

Early playtests of the final fight led to confusion regarding Ellie's decision to spare Abby; the editorial team suggested adding a flash of Joel playing guitar, which Druckmann felt was an effective balance between explicit and implicit motivation.

The main plot of Part II takes place two years later, where Ellie and Joel have built a life in Jackson, though it is evident their relationship is still strained.

Ellie enters the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) camp to witness Abby Anderson beat Joel to death, and swears revenge.

Abby and Lev return to the aquarium to find Owen and his pregnant girlfriend Mel killed and a map leading to Ellie's theater hideout.

[27]: 118  Druckmann wanted to avoid casting Bailey due to her proliferation of roles, but was impressed with her audition tape in how she had played into Abby's vulnerability.

Flashbacks in the game reveal Joel taking Ellie on a birthday trip to a museum, and him finally admitting the truth to her when she travels to the hospital.

[45] An early version of Joel's death scene had him utter "Sarah", his daughter's name, until Baker suggested that he should remain silent.

[47] When designing Joel for Part II, the art team ensured that he maintained his identifiable look while also showing the stress of the last five years.

[27]: 17 GamesRadar+'s Alex Avard found that Baker "steals some of [the game's] best scenes as Joel" by adding complexities that enrich the character and relationships.

Pierce felt that Tommy convincing Ellie to chase Abby at the farm is him attempting to erase his shame, comparing it to "bombing the shit out of Iraq after 9/11", which is "not quite the right target there, but ... made some people feel righteous".

[27]: 172  When designing Tommy for Part II, the team wanted to show his advanced age while maintaining his identity from the first game.

[50] Dina underwent extensive design changes in development; early iterations featured patterns that were deemed impractical for stealth, though the team wanted her style to embody pre-pandemic life.

[27]: 40 Andrew Webster of The Verge described Dina as a "charismatic and honest counterpart to Ellie's more headstrong personality", particularly noting the emptiness of her absence.

[63] Alexander was attracted to the role as they underwent similar emotions when transitioning, having come from a Mormon background and also receiving backlash after cutting their hair.

[8]: 1:39:33  Lev's name is based on the Hebrew interpretation of the word "heart" and is an homage to the character from David Benioff's City of Thieves (2008), one of Druckmann's favorite novels.

[62][65] Writing for Paste, Waverly praised the choice to have Lev played by a transgender actor, but felt there was too much emphasis on his gender identity and the suffering he experienced for it.

The following day, she takes them to her friends Owen and Mel; the latter, a surgeon, determines that Yara has compartment syndrome and is forced to amputate her arm.

Yara accepts Owen's invitation to escape to Santa Barbara, but Lev, unwilling to leave their mother behind, travels to the Seraphites' island.

[27]: 145 Emanuel "Manny" Alvarez (Alejandro Edda) is a former Firefly who serves with Abby, his friend, as a soldier of the Washington Liberation Front.

[68]: 16:05  Manny's final scenes on the marina were among the last to be shot in the day, and Edda felt that the fatigue of the actors added to the intensity and desperation of their performances.

[21] Destructoid's Chris Carter felt empathetic to the main characters,[16] a sentiment echoed by IGN's Dornbush, who found Ellie's development particularly "riveting".

[70][71] Andy McNamara of Game Informer found the occasional absence of supporting characters alarming, having grown close to them.

[55] Similarly, GameSpot's Kallie Plagge found Abby's character development incongruous with her "onslaught of combat against human enemies".

[76] Yannick Le Fur of Jeuxvideo.com wrote that supporting characters such as Jesse and Manny lacked development and were simply used to advance the narrative.

[48] James Dyer of Empire described the performances as "incredibly nuanced, big-screen worthy", additionally naming Woodward and Alexander as standouts.

Gameplay screenshot of a young adult woman with brown hair. She has some snow on her and is wearing a hooded jacket and backpack and holding a rifle. Next to her is a woman in her early 20s with brown hair. She is wet and is wearing a grey sleeveless shirt.
Ellie (left) and Abby (right), the primary playable characters of The Last of Us Part II
31-year-old woman looking to the right of the camera.
Ashley Johnson returned to play protagonist Ellie .
38-year-old woman looking to the left of the camera.
Laura Bailey portrayed Abby .
42-year-old man looking to the left of the camera.
Troy Baker reprised his role as Joel in The Last of Us Part II .
49-year-old man with slick gray and a gray beard smiling at the camera.
Jeffrey Pierce reprised his role as Tommy in The Last of Us Part II .
32-year-old woman looking to the left of the camera.
Shannon Woodward , who had worked with Halley Gross before, was cast as Dina in Part II .
35-year-old man smiling to the right of the camera.
Stephen Chang portrayed Jesse in the game.
A man with slicked, dark hair holding a wine glass and wearing a black suit with motion capture dots on the suit and his face. He has his arm around a smiling man with dark hair and a dark beard. Next to him is a blonde woman, also in a motion capture suit with dots.
The performances of Troy Baker (left) and Ashley Johnson (right), and the narrative by Neil Druckmann (center), received praise from critics.