The internet is on fire — and not in a good way.

After The Last of Us delivered its most explosive moment yet — Abby (played by Kaitlyn Dever) viciously murdering Joel (Pedro Pascal) — chaos erupted online. But instead of stopping at shock and heartbreak, a toxic wave of hate has surged toward Dever, with trolls flooding her social media… including on a post where she mourned the death of her real-life mother.

Yes, that’s how low some viewers have stooped.

But Bella Ramsey isn’t letting it slide. Speaking out on Capital Buzz, Ramsey made their fury clear:

“Nobody hate on Kaitlyn. Why would you do that? People love to hate people — but we’re just playing characters, okay?”

It’s a heartbreaking reminder that some fans can’t separate fiction from reality. Ramsey, who’s no stranger to cruel comments themselves, added that they’ve avoided online abuse by completely deleting their social media — a drastic but necessary move as Season 2 stirs up more controversy.

Ramsey also shared personal admiration for Dever, describing her as

“hilarious, brilliant, and one of the kindest humans I’ve met.”
A far cry from the character fans now love to hate.

The attack on Dever echoes a dark moment in the franchise’s history. Laura Bailey, who first voiced Abby in The Last of Us Part II video game, received death threats for the exact same storyline — threats she later made public to expose the ugliness behind the screen.

Will history repeat itself?

The cast and crew are bracing for backlash, but they’re also calling for empathy. After all, actors don’t write the scripts. And as Ramsey put it best —

“We’re playing characters. That’s all there is to it.”

But for some fans, rage is proving louder than reason.