Rumors began to do the rounds that development was already underway on a third The Last of Us game back in 2023, but co-creator Neil Druckmann debunked the reports shortly after.
However, the Naughty Dog co-president did later offer a slightly more positive update.
“I know there’s a bunch of people wondering about The Last of Us Part 3 and whether that will be a thing or not,” Druckmann told Buzzfeed last year. “All I could say is, at Naughty Dog we’re very, very privileged that our publisher is Sony — which means Sony funds our games, supports us, and we’re owned by Sony."
“Our process is the same thing we did when we did Part 2, which is if we can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love — just like the first and second game did — then we will tell that story. If we can’t come up with something, we have a very strong ending with Part 2 and that will be the end.”
More recently, Druckmann suggested that fans shouldn't get their hopes up for another game, but that doesn't mean work has not progressed behind the scenes.
Part II concluded with Ellie deciding not to allow herself a spark of hope and humanity by sparing Abby's life and returning home (a couple of fingers short) to find that Dina and baby JJ had left. She picks up her guitar, strums Pearl Jam's "Future Days," and thinks back to the night she made an effort to forgive Joel and attempted to mend their strained relationship.
It's a powerful, haunting final sequence, and as Druckmann rightly points out, would serve as a fitting end to the story... if a third game wasn't on the way!
Daniel Richtman believes that Naughty Dog are now in the process of casting for a group of new characters. According to the scooper, "part of the plot will be about a group of scavengers surviving on the outskirts of a post apocalyptic city, crammed into a Victorian house that serves as their base."
Here are brief descriptions of the new characters:
Val, female, Leader of the group
Ezra, male, wants to take over the house from Val
Mason, male, a former soldier. When Val gets put in charge, Mason must choose between his loyalty to Ezra and the house
Lucas, male, affable, but develops a relationship with another young scavenger and will have a turn that shows his dark side.
Gracie, female 18-25 (no other details on this character)
Of course, we're sure Ellie, Abby, Dinah and the rest of the surviving protagonists from the second game will return.
If a third game is in the works, we're sure an official announcement will be with us fairly soon. In the meantime, the second season of HBO's The Last of Us is set to premiere next month.