Kaitlyn Dever’s haunting debut as Abby in 'The Last of Us' Season 2 was already emotionally charged — but few knew that the actress was quietly carrying her own devastating grief behind the scenes.

In a recent interview with GQ, the rising star revealed that she filmed her first intense scene — discovering her character’s father’s dead body after he’s shot by Pedro Pascal’s Joel — just days after burying her own mother, who had been battling cancer for 14 years.“Even though death is part of the human experience, we are not meant to be used to grief,” Dever reflected. “Watching your best friend die… I had just experienced that.” Shooting the emotionally gut-wrenching scene so soon after her real-life loss was, in her words, “gut-wrenching.”

The actress admitted that repeating the lines in a scene that eerily mirrored her own trauma made it all the more painful. “That was a crazy line to repeat over and over again because I had just seen her.

She wasn’t alive anymore, and I saw her body in the hospital.”To navigate the overwhelming pain, Dever turned to words that brought her comfort — a heartfelt speech by Andrew Garfield after the loss of his mother. She shared how watching Garfield open up about grief gave her strength.

“I would Google it and watch it often… because I always felt like the worst thing in my life that could happen was losing my best friend. And I always thought that I wouldn’t be able to go on. But then I’d look at Andrew and think, well, his life seems to be moving forward.”Despite the emotional toll, Dever channeled her grief into a performance that has already struck a chord with audiences. In a poignant tribute shared publicly after her mother’s passing, the Booksmart actress wrote, “Thank you for fighting so hard for us for so long.

I’ll be broken forever without you. You were the greatest mom and wife.”She also credited her mother for the unshakable bond she shares with her sisters, Mady and Jane, and their father, writing, “We’ll always have each other to lean on because of you.”

As Kaitlyn Dever steps further into the spotlight with one of the most anticipated roles in television, she does so carrying the memory of the woman who shaped her — with strength, vulnerability, and the quiet power of resilience.