The Last of Us Gamers Marking Their Calendars For 26 September

I hope I’m not the only The Last of Us fan who feels as if we’re on the precipice of something very exciting.

You surely can’t have missed the rumours that a State of Play is supposedly on the way next week.

Reputable leaker NateTheHate has suggested as much, claiming that the event will be held “next week”, with Insider Gaming also reporting knowledge of a September event.

Do you know what else is happening next week?

It’s the annual The Last of Us Day, held on 26 September every year to coincide with what was Outbreak Day in the games.

Typically, Naughty Dog reserves some kind of announcement for the occasion.

In recent years, those have largely concerned the HBO TV show with casting and trailers having been dropped.

With the State of Play also rumoured for next week though, is it clown behaviour to surmise that some gaming related The Last of Us news might be on the way?

Listen, I’ve got no intel here. I want to make that clear.

I’m just speculating based on the weirdly coincidental timing, especially as every insider seems convinced this will be a rather major State of Play.

Am I saying The Last of Us Part III will be unveiled? I think it would be a sign of too much copium inhalation to make such a claim.

But it can’t be ruled out entirely.

As you’ll likely be aware, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has stepped away from writing and directing on HBO’s The Last of Us to focus more heavily on his work at Naughty Dog.

He seemed to be juggling dual duties just fine when it came to also working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet which is rumoured to launch in the next year or two.

Why the sudden change? Perhaps Druckmann just didn’t agree with fellow showrunner Craig Mazin’s choices, or perhaps he finally found the inspiration he needed to wholeheartedly dedicate himself to The Last of Us Part III.

In a recent interview with Variety, Druckmann made all kinds of cryptic comments.

He teased that we hadn’t seen the last of Uncharted or The Last of Us.

“Other things are coming and we can announce more things soon,” is one such tease he made.

Later in the interview, Druckmann explained his exit from his TV duties, citing the “all the various Last of Us things I’m working on”.

God, I’m getting so hyped just typing all of this.

At another stage in the interview, Druckmann was asked about additional adaptations.

He replied, “And there’s more stuff happening in The Last of Us world that has not been announced.”

While I’m pretty confident The Last of Us Part III will and is happening and could even be the reason Druckmann has stepped away from the HBO show, I don’t think that’s something we’ll hear about anytime soon.

There’s plenty else teased here though that could surface as soon as next week by the sounds of it.

Could that second confirmed Naughty Dog game be a The Last of Us spin-off?

Perhaps there’s a TV show spin-off? Or a new DLC? Maybe there’s going to be a new line of The Last of Us comics?

It’s so hard to say but the bottom line is this: The Last of Us Day is guaranteed, Druckmann has made several major teases, and a State of Play is rumoured.

I might be clowning, but you can’t say I don’t have reason to.