A lot of times when horror actors and bonafide scream queens are interviewed, they’re asked about any frightening moments that might have happened while filming. Sometimes, it leads fun behind-the-scenes stories about genre classics, and then other times, a legitimately disturbing confession or two will happen, as was the case with The Last of Us co-star Kaitlyn Dever.
With The Last of Us Season 3 set to delve far deeper into the post-apocalyptic life and times of Dever’s divisive survivor Abby following the Season 2 finale’s cliffhanger ending, the Last Man Standing vet will likely be changing a lot of viewers’ opinions when new episodes arrive down the line. But I can only hope she’s not constantly dealing with an on-set fear she picked up while filming for the second season.
Talking with her former Justified co-star Walton Goggins for a Vanity Fair interview, the 28-year-old actress addressed a specific fear she experienced that I’ll attempt not to let settle into my own nightmares. As she put it:
Maybe it’s just normal stunts. A lot of the stuff I have to do on The Last of Us was pretty intense, getting chased by a big group of people. I had a fear that I would fall and then they would run over me.
Perhaps the freakiest sequence that took place during Abby’s somewhat limited screentime in Season 2 came in Episode 2 when she was fleeing the infected and crawled behind a chainlink fence, only to nearly get crushed by the slew of rabid-esque monsters that piled on top.
That scene alone, which also came out of the video game, is 100% understandable as a major fear, since just thinking about being in that situation gives me the creeps even if it’s just normal people and not monsters doing all the potential crushing.
Beyond that, Dever pointed out another couple of instances that were fairly scary to bring to life while filming Season 2, saying:
I had to be getting chased by a really fancy, expensive camera rig. That was scary. Doing a lot of cable work and being up high — I’m pretty afraid of heights.
I’m glad she was able to work through her fears to bring some stellar TV scenes to life, and I think other gamers would agree that she’s only filmed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Abby’s story. Although I guess murdering Joel deserves a bigger distinction than just being the tip.
My fingers are crossed that Kaitlyn Dever finds a way to get Walton Goggins into the cast for Season 3, even if it’s only for a single scene, a la Joe Pantoliano’s highly depressing scene in Episode 206. We’ll be waiting a while to see what guest stars will pop up, however, as the upcoming horror show isn’t expected to go back into production until later this year.
