The stars of “The Legend of Vox Machina” and “The Mighty Nein” coincidentally all voiced major or minor roles in the original “Last of Us” games.

Abby of *The Last of Us *games reacts to Kaitlyn Dever’s Emmy-nominated performance (exclusive)

The stars of "The Legend of Vox Machina" and "The Mighty Nein" coincidentally all voiced major or minor roles in the original "Last of Us" games.

By Nick Romano

Nick is an entertainment journalist based in New York, NY. If you like pugs and the occasional blurry photo of an action figure, follow him on Twitter @NickARomano.

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Published on July 24, 2025 09:30PM EDT

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Kaitlyn Dever as Abby on HBO's 'The Last of Us'; Laura Bailey's Abby in 'The Last of Us Part II'. Credit:

Liane Hentscher/HBO; Naughty Dog

Laura Bailey went through the gauntlet portraying Abby in the *Last of Us* video games, and now she's watching Kaitlyn Dever go through a similar process for the HBO drama.

Bailey shared her reaction to watching Dever's Emmy-nominated performance in an interview out of **'s Comic-Con suite for *The Legend of Vox Machina* and *The Mighty Nein*.

"She's just phenomenal, every moment that I saw that she was in, I just loved how much she brought to the character and made it her own," she shares. "It's kind of like watching your child get up and start walking for the first time. Once you put it out there it's somebody else's and she's just embraced it."

Kaitlyn Dever as Abby in 'The Last of Us' season 2.

Liane Hentscher/HBO

Despite criticism from fans on the way season 2 was adapted, the show earned multiple Emmy nominations, including for Dever, Pedro Pascal (Joel), and Bella Ramsey's (Ellie) performances.

Turning to Ashley Johnson, who originated the role of Ellie for 2013's *The Last of Us* and 2020's *The Last of Us Part II*, Bailey shared that she recently met with Neil Druckmann, the game's co-creator and a showrunner on seasons 1-2 of the HBO show. "I just had lunch with Neil about this, how happy I was with everything that she did," she says.

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The other *Vox Machina*/*The Mighty Nein* actors, all members of Critical Role, also reacted to season 2 of HBO's series adaptation. They were all involved in the making of the games in some capacity. Matt Mercer, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, Liam O'Brien, and Taliesin Jaffe all voiced NPCs (non-playable characters) across the two games.

Bailey originated the role of Abby in *The Last of Us Part II*, which introduced the character as the daughter of the Firefly doctor Joel (played in the game by Troy Baker) gunned down in the first game when he saved Ellie from the hospital. Years later, she and her allies track down Joel in Jackson, Wyo., and bludgeon him to death, setting Ellie off on a warpath.

Taliesin Jaffe, Laura Bailey, and Matthew Mercer at Comic-Con.

Presley Ann Photo/Shutterstock

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Bailey also made a small cameo on HBO's *The Last of Us*, playing a masked doctor in Ellie's operating room in season 1 — the same NPC she voiced on the first game. Johnson made a larger cameo as Ellie's mother in a season 1 flashback scene.

HBO renewed *The Last of Us* for season 3, which will now focus largely on Dever's Abby after a POV shift and time jump occurred in the season 2 finale. Druckmann left his post as co-showrunner ahead of season 3 to focus on his duties at gaming studio Naughty Dog and the next project they're developing. Craig Mazin will now serve as the sole showrunner and lead writer moving forward.

When asked if Mazin has been in touch about any kind of season 3 cameo, Bailey responds, "Oh you, look at you. I'm not saying anything."

The head of content at HBO, Casey Bloys, recently confirmed *The Last of Us* season 3 "is definitely planned for 2027." He also said Mazin "is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season. It hasn't been decided yet, and I'm following Craig's lead on that."

Watch the livestream of EW's Comic-Con suite above.

**Check out more of EW’s coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025**.

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Source: “AOL TV”