CGI Used on Kaitlyn Dever for The Last of Us Role

The speculation surrounding Abby's introduction in The Last of Us Season 2 has been rampant, but few anticipated Kaitlyn Dever needing CGI to cover up a (shudder) spider bite on her face.

Yet, that's precisely what occurred. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dever revealed that during filming for her early Fireflies scenes, the production team had to digitally conceal an unsettling, "oozing" bite mark she sustained between shoots.

"It's visible in my first Fireflies episode," Dever explained. "I'd taken a brief break and woke up with what I assumed was a pimple. Turns out, it was far worse."

"This massive spider bite started... well, oozing—hate that word," she continued. "The CGI team worked magic. You'd never spot it. I still bear a scar where they had to remove it surgically."

Dever also reflected on channeling raw emotion for that pivotal scene. Heartbreakingly, she filmed Joel and Ellie's explosive confrontation just four days after her mother's funeral following a cancer battle.

"I flew back three days post-funeral. By day four, we were shooting the Fireflies' chalet sequence," she recalled. "Everything blurred together. Watching it back, I realized grief warps memory—it felt like experiencing the scene fresh."

HBO reports staggering success for Season 2, with global viewership surpassing 90 million since Season 1 concluded. The U.S. Season 2 finale drew 3.7 million cross-platform viewers—a dip from the premiere's 5.3 million, though Warner Bros. expects post-Memorial Day streaming to significantly boost numbers.

Notably, Season 1's finale set a record 8.2 million viewers, meaning Season 2's climax still trails behind.

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Showrunner Craig Mazin recently confirmed a fourth season is practically inevitable. He acknowledged that cramming both Naughty Dog games' narratives into Season 3 would require an unrealistic runtime. While Season 3 may expand beyond Season 2's length, Mazin stressed "there's no way" to conclude the story without stretching to Season 4. He and Neil Druckmann dropped another bombshell: even they're unsure about certain characters' future screen time.