New The Last Of Us Projects Are Reportedly Planned At Naughty Dog

According to a recent interview with Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann, the franchise creator of The Last of Us has shared that the studio isn’t quite done with the franchise just yet, and that when the time is right, he will share what they have been working on.

The interview with The Washington Post shares that Druckmann and his studio are no longer involved in The Last of Us HBO series, but the franchise is far from over.

The most recent game in the series came in 2020 with The Last Of Us Part II, ironically still the last non-remake game developed by Naughty Dog. The second part received critical acclaim and swept the awards season that included a Game of the Year winner at The Game Awards 2020.

As for what these projects could be, the obvious assumption is a third part in the series. Following Ellie after the events of the second part or what happened to Abby after she survived the final fight against Ellie and escaped. There are loads of possibilities the story can try for.

Another popular guess among fans right now is a prequel game showing the life from the perspective of Joel and Tommy prior to the events of the first game. There is a lot of unexplained stories in their pasts, so a game exploring their backstory’s could be a interesting new project in the series.

Naughty Dog is currently focused on completing Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, as its their next mainline game and once that game arrives, presumably releasing next year, it would be of no surprise if Naughty Dog hops back on The Last of Us train for another installment.

It has been rough sledding for Naughty Dog as a studio in previous years. There was supposed to be a online game in The Last Of Us series, but after being nearly finished, it got canceled, leaving the studio still without a full game so far in the PS5 generation.

It remains to be seen what projects Neil Druckmann was thinking about during his interview, but fans should be excited either way, as The Last of Us may very well be making a huge comeback.

Hayden Bird

Hayden Bird is an American writer and self-published author with several years of experience in both gaming journalism and writing novels. He lives in the great state of South Carolina and has been a writer his entire life, ever since early grade school. He used to write short-stories for his school bookfair and since then has spent the consecutive years building his writing skills and his portfolio.