The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin reveals why the TV show changes Abby’s first scene

Played by Kaitlyn Dever, Abby is introduced as a new playable character near the start of the original video game, but her intentions are unknown until she kills another character.

However in the TV series, prior to the five-year time jump, it cuts straight to Abby and the other young people who have been orphaned and as they stand near their families' graves, they are plotting to hunt Joel (Pedro Pascal) down.

With such a change in story, the question of why the reveal was pulled forward was put to showrunner Craig Mazin.

"The first question I remember asking Neil [Druckmann] was, 'Why did you do it that way?' Because I'm always trying to get under the hood of his intentions there," Mazin exclusively told RadioTimes.com.

Mazin continued: "He said he felt like there was something about the mechanics of playing, and I agree, as a fan of the game and video games in general, where when you become someone you have an instant connection to them. And it can be very confusing to be someone and then also to do things that you wish the person wouldn't be doing.

"But in television, we don't have that. We don't have that no one can say, 'Oh, when I was Joel or when I was Abby'. We watched them and our feeling was in this medium, it was important to give people enough context, because we weren't [going to do] a long stretch where there would just be Abby, because the game was saying you're Abby now, you can't just press triangle and be Joel or Ellie, you have to be Abby for a long time. We don't have that.

"We had choices of when to bring people in and out, and so we thought it was important to situate Abby."

A lot of the choice came from how viewers will watch the new season, with episodes dropping weekly.

Mazin told RadioTimes.com: "We also understood, just because of the nature of watching television episodically, people can only get what we show them on Sunday or Monday here in the UK, and that's that once a week.

"But when you play the game, you could go straight through if you really want to know, and so you can get to the answer that may be delayed quite quickly, but no one has that opportunity with us. A lot of the thinking that went into that choice."

Dever joined the cast as Abby last year. The character has been described as "a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved".

Upon the announcement, the show's creators defended Dever after confirming that her character would have some crucial differences compared to the game.

Neil Druckmann said at the time: "We value performance over anything else. We need someone to really capture the essence of those characters.... We don't value as much, 'Do they look exactly like the character with their eyebrows or their nose or their body?' Whatever it is.

"It's not nowhere on the priority list, but it's below a bunch of other things that we consider."

The Last of Us season 1 is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW with an Entertainment Membership.

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