Actress Kaitlyn Dever is about to debut in HBO’s The Last of Us as Abby Anderson, fighting off both infected clickers and Ellie alike. But it looks like after that she’ll set her sights on something a whole lot larger. According to Deadline, Dever will join the cast of Legendary’s Monsterverse follow-up to Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire. While the giant ape and the behemoth lizard are always the stars of those movies—not to mention others like Mothra—the list of human cast members are just as impressive.
Dever has an increasingly impressive filmography including feature films Booksmart and No One Will Save You as well as television roles in Dopesick and Unbelievable. She was also in 142 episodes of that Tim Allen show Last Man Standing. Did you know that show was on for as many seasons as Home Improvement and yet no one ever talked about it? Weird.
Of course, her role in The Last of Us season two later this year will see her play Abby, the controversial co-lead of the second Naughty Dog video game. Without spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t played the game, Abby is the second protagonist, the player character for about half the playtime, and who stands in direct conflict with Ellie and Joel. Between that and her essentially solo turn in the alien invasion film No One Will Save You, Dever should be plenty prepared to tangle with some Titans.
While we don’t have a title yet for the film—which continues on from the top 10 box office hit of 2024—we do know Adam Wingard won’t return to direct. The franchise’s new director will be Grant Sputore working from a script by Dave Callaham. No release date yet.
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Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
