‘The Last of Us Part 3’ teased again by Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann

It seems like a third entry into the ‘Last of Us’ series is very much on the table, as director Neil Druckmann has teased that there is a “concept” already for “one more chapter” in the franchise.

This was actually revealed by Druckmann himself during the ‘Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2′ documentary that shows off Naughty Dog’s struggles during the development of that game. Druckmann was the director of said title, and at the end of the vidoc he shared his thoughts on continuing the story, stating that there is “probably one more chapter to this story.”

“The first game had such a clean concept of like, the unconditional love a parent feels for their child,” said Druckmann. “The second one, once we landed on this idea of the pursuit of justice at any cost, justice for the ones you love, we felt like, ‘there’s a clean concept here and there’s a throughline from the first game, about love.’ If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point. Last bite of the apple, the story’s done.”

He goes on to explain that so far nothing had materialized in Naughty Dog regarding a third part to the story, but that as they’ve been given enough freedom in the studio, things have started brewing in his mind. “Recently, that’s changed, and I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept that to me is as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2, is its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”

The future of The Last of Us is a big unknown

Only a few months ago, Naughty Dog announced the definitive cancellation of the long-awaited online multiplayer project of the franchise. “The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part II – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential. As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystalized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.”

“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”

This coupled with the idea of a TLOU Part 3 being possible starts to paint a picture for the franchise’s (and the studio’s) future. There is currently no details about what they could be currently working on, but for the time being, it seems like we won’t be seeing the series for a few years at least.