In the recent Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II documentary, Neil Druckmann hints at having found a concept for The Last of Us Part 3. The statement comes just four years after the release of The Last of Us Part II.
Naughty Dog initially released The Last of Us Part II in 2020. Their most recent games have been several remasters/remakes of their older eighth generation titles including The Last of Us Part I and Uncharted 4/Lost Legacy. Recently, Naughty Dog cancelled their GAAS title, The Last of Us Online. It is currently unknown when their next new game will release.
The Last of Us Part 3 Teased by Neil Druckmann in New Documentary
In the recently released Grounded II: The Making of The Last of Us Part II, many of the game’s cast and staff discuss the creative choices they made and the struggles they faced while developing the controversial sequel. Towards the end of the documentary, he teases the existence of a potential third game in the trilogy. He states:
The first game had such a clean concept of the unconditional love a parent feels for their child. The second one, once we landed on this idea of the pursuit of justice at any cost, justice for the ones you love, it felt like there’s a clean concept here and there’s a through-line from the first game about love. If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point. The last bite of the apple, the story’s done…
…I’ve been thinking about, ‘Is there a concept there?’ And for now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept. But recently that’s changed. I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept, that, to me, is as exciting as I, as exciting as II, is its own thing, yet has this through-line for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.
It is unknown whether or not The Last of Us Part III will be Naughty Dog’s next game. While they teased “future single-player games” when cancelling The Last of Us Online, it is unknown if these games will be new intellectual properties or a sequel to a series such as The Last of Us or Uncharted. Expect the company to reveal more details in the coming months.
