When she’s first introduced in The Last of Us’ season 2 premiere, Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby announces that she wants to kill Joel, but it’s unclear exactly why she wants him dead. The Last of Us season 2, episode 1, “Future Days,” picks up five years after the events of season 1. But before the five-year time jump, the premiere episode takes a brief look at the aftermath of Joel’s actions in the season 1 finale. In a field near the hospital in Salt Lake City, Abby and the other surviving Fireflies bury their dead following Joel’s massacre.

Abby’s friends start making plans to join a new settlement. Owen has heard about a group in Seattle run by a man named Isaac. But Abby is less interested in finding a new home and more focused on tracking down Joel and killing him. It’s clear that she wants to avenge the Fireflies that Joel killed, but they’re all mourning the loss of their fellow Fireflies and none of the others seem to be as passionate about vengeance as Abby. That’s because Abby has a much more personal reason for wanting Joel dead.

Joel Killed Abby’s Father In The Last Of Us Season 1

Abby’s Father, Jerry Anderson, Was The Surgeon Who Wanted To Kill Ellie

Abby wants to kill Joel to avenge her father, Jerry. At the end of The Last of Us season 1, Joel finally got Ellie to the Fireflies. They confirmed that they could, indeed, turn Ellie’s immunity into a cure — but the operation would kill her. By that point, Joel had come to love Ellie like his own daughter, and since he already lost his own daughter, there was no way he was going to let that happen again. So, Joel went on a rampage and massacred every Firefly in the hospital.

When he got to the operating room, the surgeon that was about to cut a cure out of Ellie’s brain tried to stop him, so Joel killed him. That surgeon’s name was Jerry Anderson and his daughter, Abby, was distraught over his untimely death.

When he got to the operating room, the surgeon that was about to cut a cure out of Ellie’s brain tried to stop him, so Joel killed him. That surgeon’s name was Jerry Anderson and his daughter, Abby, was distraught over his untimely death. She spent the next four years (five years in the TV show) singularly focused on finding Joel and exacting revenge. After learning that Joel’s ex-Firefly brother Tommy was last seen at a settlement in Jackson, Abby and her friends made the excursion to Wyoming to finally complete this quest for vengeance.

Was Abby Around During The Last Of Us Season 1?

Abby Didn’t Appear On-Screen, But She Was At The Hospital

Abby didn’t actually appear on-screen in The Last of Us season 1 (although a background character with a ponytail was theorized to be Abby), but she was around at the hospital. Flashbacks in The Last of Us Part II reveal that, when Joel and Ellie arrived at St. Mary’s Hospital, Abby and Jerry were in a nearby park, helping a zebra who escaped from the same zoo as the giraffes that Joel and Ellie saw. Owen came out to retrieve Jerry, telling him that the immune girl had been found and that her immunity seemed to be legit.

Jerry went back to the hospital, talked it over with Marlene, and made the difficult decision to take one life in order to save millions of others. Another recurring flashback in The Last of Us Part II reveals that Abby was armed and ready for action during Joel’s massacre, but she was too late to save her dad. She came down the hallway to the operating room and found him dead while Joel was escaping with Ellie. Based on The Last of Us season 2’s trailers, it looks like we’ll be getting this flashback in the TV show, too.

Does Abby Kill Joel? What Happens In The Last Of Us Part II Game

Abby Does Kill Joel — And, As Promised, She Kills Him Slowly

Oh, yes, Abby does kill Joel. When she vows to kill Joel in the season 2 premiere, she stipulates that she wants to kill him slowly and really make him suffer. If she kills him in the TV show the same way she killed him in the game, then she’ll certainly keep that promise. After luring Joel back to a chalet where she and her friends are staying, Abby shoots Joel in the leg with a shotgun. Then, she tells her friend Mel — a certified surgeon — to tourniquet his leg, because she doesn’t want him to bleed out.

Abby then picks up a golf club and mercilessly beats Joel to death with it. For four long years, Abby has been training for this moment, because she thought that killing Joel would make her feel better about her dad’s death and give her closure. But after killing Joel, she just felt empty. It didn’t solve anything. This sets up the main crux of The Last of Us season 2’s narrative. As Ellie searches for Abby to avenge her own father figure, she’ll learn the same lesson Abby did: revenge won’t make everything okay.