The Last of Us season 2 mild spoilers follow.
The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have explained why the TV show version of Abby has undergone a massive change from the game.
In the PlayStation (and soon-to-be PC) game, Abby is the other main playable character, opposite Ellie. She is from a rival faction of survivors and through Ellie's eyes is a villain, but her side of the story makes things more complicated than that.
Fans have pointed out that actor Kaitlyn Dever has a different body type to the character in the game, with the animated character being more muscular.
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Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Druckmann (who also directed the games) said: "We would've struggled to find someone as good as Kaitlyn to play this role.
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"In the game, you have to play both characters [Ellie and Abby] and we need them to play differently. We needed Ellie to feel smaller and kind of manoeuvre around, and Abby was meant to play more like Joel in that she's almost like a brute in the way she can physically manhandle certain things.
"That doesn't play as big of a role in this version of the story because there's not as much violent action moment to moment. It's more about the drama. I'm not saying there's no action here. It's just, again, different priorities and how you approach it."
Related: The Last of Us reveals first look at Kaitlyn Dever's Abby in new season 2 teaser
Mazin added: "I personally think that there is an amazing opportunity here to delve into someone who is perhaps physically more vulnerable than the Abby in the game, but whose spirit is stronger.
"And then the question is, 'Where does her formidable nature come from and how does it manifest?' That's something that will be explored now and later."
The Last of Us season 2 will premiere in April on HBO in the US, and on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
