Lily, transitioned to male, the siblings were ostracized from the group and forced to flee. Lev saves Yara after the latter is captured by Seraphites. Abby helps the siblings find safety for the night. The following day, she takes them to her friends Owen and Mel. After being invited by Owen to escape to Santa Barbara, Lev, unwilling to leave their mother behind, travels to the Seraphites' island in an effort to convince her to leave. He kills his mother while defending himself. As they leave the island, Yara sacrifices herself so Lev and Abby can escape. They find Owen and Mel dead; Lev helps Abby track Ellie's whereabouts, but they spare her. Abby and Lev eventually travel to Santa Barbara, where they contact the Fireflies, but are captured by a bandit group. Some time later, Ellie frees Abby, who sails away on a boat with Lev. The two eventually make it to Catalina Island, the location of the Fireflies. Originally in development, Lev was not transgender. When exploring the idea of making him transgender, the team found it to be an interesting look into the violence that can be found within organized religion. Queer and transgender employees of Naughty Dog gave input on the character, and the team consulted with an LGBTQ scholar. When the developers reached out to acting agencies to cast for the character, they found that none represented transgender actors. Some members of the team were fans of The OA (2016–2019), which starred Alexander, who was not represented by an agency at the time; Naughty Dog contacted The OA director Zal Batmanglij to get in touch. Druckmann invited Alexander to audition, and the latter submitted some self-taped videos. They worked on the game for three years. Alexander was attracted to the role as they underwent similar emotions when transitioning, having come from a Mormon background and also receiving backlash after cutting their hair. However, they noted that a significant difference was that, while Lev used his faith as a Seraphite as comfort, Alexander abandoned their religion to cope with the discrimination. They felt that Lev has been forced to grow up due to his surroundings. Despite some hesitation, the team determined that Lev's deadname being used by the Seraphites demonstrated the difference between their transphobia and the acceptance of Abby and Yara. The team hired a religious consultant to ensure the Seraphites' response to Lev's transition