The Last of Us Star Teases Naughty Dog Return

The Last of Us star Troy Baker has teased a return with legendary PlayStation studio, Naughty Dog.

The moment it first arrived on the PlayStation 3 in 2013, The Last of Us not only sat firmly alongside the Uncharted series as one of Naughty Dog’s best properties. And in achieving such highs, it also quickly became considered to be one of the best video games of all time.

Universally praised across the board, the positivity was reflected by Metacritic scores of 95 from critics and 9.1 from the audience, earning the 'Must-Play' accolade.

Set in the years 2033/34, humanity is on the brink of extinction thanks to a deadly cordyceps fungal outbreak that turned people into horrific creatures with a sole purpose of infecting, taking over, and eventually killing every human unfortunate enough to have contact with it.

At the heart of The Last of Us’ story is Joel Miller (Troy Baker), a once-loving father, turned brutal mercenary following a tragic event during the early hours of the Cordyceps outbreak. Then a young girl named Ellie Williams (Ashley Johnson), thought to be humanity’s saviour, finally gave Joel something to live for.

Troy Baker also played another character in a different Naughty Dog series, namely, Samuel Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, brother of Nathan Drake, played by Nolan North.

Tati Gabrielle as Jordan A. Mun in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, SIE

Hurry up and give us The Last of Us Part III

While Naughty Dog hasn't officially announced The Last of Us Part III, not only do we all strongly suspect it will be released at some point, but Naughty Dog's chief, Neil Druckmann, has teased as much.

Before I proceed, I will be going into vague spoilers for The Last of Us Part II, so consider this to be your final spoiler warning.

In an attempt to be as vague as possible, Joel is unlikely to be in The Last of Us Part III. Though I suppose he could feature in flashback scenes, if I were to be optimistic.

Yet, following an interview with Comicbook.com, Troy Baker has teased that he’s working with Naughty Dog once more. Assuming it’s not for The Last of Us Part III, what else can it be?

It’s entirely possible that Troy Baker could return as Sam in either a sequel to Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End or a spin-off for the series. He may even feature in a yet-to-be-announced game.

However, Troy Baker’s next return with Naughty Dog is in the new IP, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. But rather than playing a main character, he’ll seemingly instead play a supporting character.

When asked if he and Neil Druckmann butt heads on-set for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, Troy Baker replied: “We did two weeks ago, man. Neil and I will always, it’s our vibe. We just love to butt up against each other.

“We were doing a table read, and I was literally like, ‘Why are you giving me shit right now? I’m asking you a question!’ And everybody else is like, ‘Our mom and dad are fighting, are we still going to Disneyland?’ We’re fine. We’re fine.”

At the time of writing, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet does not have a released date, but it is confirmed for PlayStation 5. We’ll keep you updated once its release date drops.