The second series of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us has been critically acclaimed since it debuted on HBO Max earlier this year, and with the TV adaptation earning rave reviews, fans are wondering if this could result in a third game being made. The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann says that he’d be keen to revisit the post-apocalyptic series, provided that certain conditions are met.
One of the primary requirements for Druckmann is that he’d want the threequel to have a story that’s “worthy” of being set in The Last of Us series. The creator says that he aims for quality over quantity, an artistic vision that has extended to other projects he has worked on.
“While I am the caretaker of this franchise, whatever the title is that Sony has entrusted me with, it’s important for me that everything is of high quality. I don’t want to just make a lot of it. I want to just be very thoughtful about everything that we make,” Druckmann said in an interview with Sacred Symbols.
“When we did the show, now we’ve teamed up with, I feel like, the best TV-makers, with HBO. We’re making the best version of it. If we were ever to come back to it, I want to make sure that it’s a story worthy of The Last Of Us. I love that world. I love these characters. With the right opportunity, yeah, I would totally jump at it.”
So far, there have been only two games set in The Last of Us series. Both of these titles have been remastered–the first game has been remastered twice–and there was even a live-service spin-off game in development before it was canceled as Naughty Dog decided to focus on single-player games instead. While the studio is currently working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet alongside at least one other game, Druckmann has mentioned in the past that he does have a concept for The Last of Us 3 and that he feels like there could probably be “one more chapter to the story,” to tell.
While we do know that he is currently working on another Naughty Dog title other than Intergalactic, he did mention that he has taken on more of a producer role that has allowed him to mentor the team developing this mystery title.
