The Last of Us creator casts doubt on a third game in the series
“Don’t bet on there being more of Last of Us,” says Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann
Naughty Dog’s president has cast doubt on the future of its The Last of Us game franchise, telling fans not to bet on there being a third series entry.
While Neil Druckmann has previously said there could be a third Last of Us game as he thinks there’s more story to tell, he has now suggested that might not be the case.
“I was waiting for this question,” Druckmann said when Variety raised the prospect of a third game during a recent interview. “I guess the only thing I would say is don’t bet on there being more of Last of Us. This could be it.”
Druckmann said in April 2021 that a story outline had been written for a potential third game in the series, but that it wasn’t currently being developed.
And he seemingly hinted at plans for a third Last of Us game in January 2023, when he told The Hollywood Reporter: “I think there’s more story to tell.”
Then, last February, Druckmann confirmed that he had a concept for a third game in mind, and that he thought there would be one more chapter to the story.
Speaking in Grounded II, a documentary detailing the development of The Last of Us Part 2, Druckmann said that he had wondered for years about a potential third game, but could never think of something that excited him, until now.
“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, yet has this through line for all three,” he said. “So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”
His latest comment on a potential third chapter in the story came during an interview focused on the second season of HBO’s Last of Us TV adaptation, which premieres on April 13.
The show’s debut season covered the events of the first The Last of Us, which was released at the tail end of the PS3 generation in June 2013, while the second season covers part of The Last of Us Part 2, which debuted for PS4 seven years later.
Craig Mazin told Variety that he and fellow showrunner Druckmann currently expect to tell the whole The Last of Us story over the course of three or four seasons.
“It feels like we’ve got one or two more seasons [after the second one], ”he said. “It’s getting harder to make, because every episode gets big. You don’t want to wait four years for a 17-episode finish, or whatever it is.”
