Naughty Dog Debated Going Straight Into The Last Of Us Part III After Part II

Naughty Dog president and The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann has seemingly revealed that The Last of Us Part III is, at the very least, an idea that’s been floated at the studio. In a new interview with Variety, Druckmann says Naughty Dog debated going straight into Part III after completing Part II, but that ultimately, the team decided to move forward on what we now know as Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. 

While a Part III to The Last of Us seems like a no-brainer, considering how well this franchise does for Naughty Dog and PlayStation, Druckmann has given mixed signals over the years. When The Last of Us Part II Remastered dropped last year, it eventually included Grounded II, a documentary about the making of the game. 

Near the end of it, Druckmann said, “For years now, I haven’t been able to find that concept [for Part III], but recently, that’s changed, and I don’t have a story, but I do have a conept 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.” 

But then, in a March 2025 Variety interview, Druckmann, when asked about a potential Part III, said, “I guess the only thing I would say is don’t be on there being more of The Last of Us. This could be it.” 

Now, in a new interview with Variety, Druckmann has seemingly revealed that Naughty Dog, at one point, had plans regarding a Part III game in its Last of Us franchise. 

When asked about potential Intergalactic sequels, Druckmann said, “We don’t tend to plan too much in the future, because we find – and this is something I inherited, it’s just the Naughty Dog culture – that we do our best work when it’s something we’re really excited about, really passionate about.

“Just to give you an example, when we finished The Last of Us Part II, and that was highly successful for us, we were debating whether we should just go straight into The Last of Us 3, and we had a really long period where we looked at ideas for maybe what could be in that game.” 

The team looked at Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, and its “sci-fi thing,” though, and Druckmann said what is now Intergalactic is where the team’s passion led it. 

So for now, it sounds like a third Last of Us game is on the theoretical or potential table as Naughty Dog continues work on Intergalactic. 

For more, read Druckmann’s thoughts on the casting and gameplay of Intergalactic, and then check out Game Informer’s interview with Druckmann on the set of The Last of Us Season 2. 

[Source: Variety]

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