Featured Image Credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Topics: The Last Of Us, The Last Of Us Part 2, Naughty Dog, PlayStation, PlayStation 5
Topics: The Last Of Us, The Last Of Us Part 2, Naughty Dog, PlayStation, PlayStation 5
To quote Michael Scott in The Office, “Oh, my God! Okay, it's happening! Everybody stay calm. STAY. CALM!”
Naughty Dog’s head honcho Neil Druckmann appears to have formally, once again, teased The Last of Us Part III.
The Last of Us wouldn’t exist without Druckmann who created the franchise alongside Bruce Straley - although it’s Druckmann who went on to become its sole guardian, writing and co-directing Part I as well as co-writing and directing Part II.
It now appears that Druckmann is finally ready to embark on the journey of creating The Last of Us Part III after dropping a subtle hint on Instagram.
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Sharing an early sketch of who would go on to become Joel and Ellie, Druckmann wrote, “Cleaning out the garage today and stumbled on my original sketches from 2003 for a game pitch about a man, his surrogate daughter, and a trek across a broken America.”
He continued, “Been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”
It’s that latter part that’s sent the fandom into a frenzy.
In recent years, Druckmann has been involved with HBO’s TV adaptation, titled The Last of Us, acting as co-showrunner as well as a writer and director on certain episodes.
However, Druckmann stepped away from the project entirely ahead of production on the upcoming third season, believed to be the show’s last.
It’s not known whether that decision stemmed from creative differences with fellow showrunner Craig Mazin after a lacklustre second season or a desire to dedicate more time to Naughty Dog as the studio’s lead creative.
Druckmann could be referring to HBO’s The Last of Us in his mention of a “few stops that remain” but that would only account for ‘one stop’ given, as mentioned, that the upcoming third season is believed to be the show’s last.
Officially, there’s nothing else in the works hence why many are taking this to be a tease that Druckmann may finally be working on The Last of Us Part III.
It’s a project he’s made reference to several times before, suggesting an idea for a third and final instalment has been landed on.
It seems plausible to suggest that Druckmann walked away from HBO’s The Last of Us to dedicate himself fully to a potential Part III.
He juggled development on upcoming new game IP Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet with his work on HBO’s The Last of Us, but he isn’t directing that game project with those duties having been left to Matthew Gallant and Kurt Margenau.
Given his somewhat ownership over The Last of Us franchise, it’s less likely he’d relinquish directing duties there - and dedicating yourself to a project of that size requires time.
There is the sad possibility that Druckmann’s “few stops” could refer to something far less significant like new merch or collectables, but that feels doubtful.
We should also consider Naughty Dog’s second mystery game project that’s in development alongside Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
READ MORE: See where The Last of Us ranks on our greatest PlayStation games of all-time.
Led by Shaun Escayg, who’s worked prominently across both The Last of Us and Uncharted, that game is reportedly three to four years into development.
We're inclined to think it may be an Uncharted release, but it can’t be ruled out that it may be a smaller scale The Last of Us project, perhaps reusing assets from the cancelled multiplayer.
Naughty Dog is likely to keep the focus on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet until it has launched, and it remains without a release date for now.
Beyond that, all fingers are crossed that we see the return of one of the greatest gaming series of all-time.