The Last of Us: Naughty Dog boss says Part 3 could be their next project

The sequel to 2013’s acclaimed action-horror game hits shelves on 19 June

Acclaimed game developers Naughty Dog will move onto The Last of Us Part III or an entirely original property after the release of The Last of Us Part II, according to director Neil Druckmann.

In an interview with GQ, Druckmann was asked about the company’s future projects, ahead of the much-anticipated debut of Part II next week.

“As you start wrapping things up, creatively there are fewer and fewer responsibilities and my mind can’t help but think about the next thing,” he said.

“So yeah, the next thing could be a Part 3, the next thing could be some new IP [intellectual property].”

Naughty Dog’s other huge franchise is the swashbuckling Uncharted series. With four year’s gone since the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, many had speculated that the next project would be another sequel, although that does not seem to be the case.

Druckmann also discussed the writing process behind The Last of Us Part II. After the huge success and ambiguous ending of the original 2013 game, there were calls for its sequel to focus on a different set of characters.

According to Druckmann, that would have represented taking the “coward’s way out”. “To me, at that point, you might as well just do a new IP,” he said. “Versus saying, no, we’re gonna double down and we’re gonna expose what this ending means.”

“To take some of the things that people hold sacred and just... dismantle it.”

The Last of Us Part II is released on PlayStation 4 on Friday 19 June 2020. In anticipation of the game’s release, PlayStation UK has published a limited edition book of poems inspired by players’ comments about the original Last of Us.

Entitled The Last of Us: From Posts to Poems, the book aims to showcase the emotional impact of the game’s storytelling. Unavailable for public release, they are being shared with select Last of Us fans.