The Last Of Us prequel details confirmed by Neil Druckmann

HBO’s The Last of Us has finally drawn to a close, for now at least. We know that a second season is on the way but it’ll likely be a few years before it lands on our screens which begs a very important question. What’s going to fill up The Last of Us shaped hole in our hearts?

I don’t know about you but I’m itching to dive into another The Last of Us Part I and Part II playthrough, even if my last one was only six months ago. That’s a long enough gap, right? I’d imagine that the upcoming untitled multiplayer project will get a full reveal this year, plus Naughty Dog previously teased ‘surprises’ for the franchise’s 10th anniversary this June. Could it be the aforementioned multiplayer project reveal? A Part III reveal still feels some way off. Perhaps a new-gen Part II director’s cut with added DLC? All I know is that I’m excited. Did you know we almost got a prequel? Franchise creator Neil Druckmann has now confirmed the details.

The Last of Us Part I lands on PC on 28 March.

As reported by ComicBook, Druckmann confirmed the almost-existence of the prequel during a press conference. It would’ve centred around Ellie’s mum Anna - who was excellently portrayed by Ashley Johnson in the TV series’ season finale. Druckmann initially drafted Anna’s story as a short story and then as an animated short. When it was evident that that wasn’t quite right, an external game studio was brought in to turn the short story into a fully fledged game.

Unfortunately for us, the deal fell through but at least we finally got to see Anna’s story thanks to the latest HBO episode. “We were talking to another game company to potentially do it as a whole other game [but] that deal fell apart to tell that story,” Druckman said. He went on to explain that if it had gone ahead, we would’ve met Ellie’s biological father who is someone we currently know nothing about.

He added, “I will say, there was some stuff written for the mom and the dad when we were talking to this other game studio to potentially do a whole Anna game. The climax, of which, was this scene … I’m reluctant to say anything about it because as I’ve now found out several times, stories that I think are failures and will never see the light of day sometimes see the light of day.” Hm, interesting. Could we have a season two flashback on our hands? An Anna spin-off show? I’d watch Marlene and Anna in the early days of the outbreak, attempting to launch the Firefly rebellion. Wouldn’t you?