Neil Druckmann Continues to Hype Up The Last of Us Part 3

Naughty Dog is deep in development on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, but it seems like there are other concepts brewing within the Santa Monica studio. Neil Druckmann, the studio president and a recent addition to HBO, is once again hinting that a third installment of The Last of Us might be on the horizon, a notion that feels increasingly risky as time goes on.

Druckmann recently shared some sketches on his Instagram that date back to 2003. These images feature a man with a young girl who, after numerous iterations and changes in art style, would evolve into the iconic duo of Joel and Ellie. Interestingly, neither sketch closely resembles the final versions of the characters. One early depiction of Joel even resembles Resident Evil’s Leon Kennedy, complete with a boy band haircut, all rendered in a style reminiscent of Jak and Daxter.

While the sketches themselves are intriguing, it’s Druckmann’s caption that raises eyebrows, suggesting that a third Last of Us game could be in the works.

“Been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”

“Stops on the road ahead?” That certainly hints at another game in development. Druckmann has previously teased the possibility of The Last of Us Part III but has also wavered on whether it will actually come to fruition. Last year, he advised fans not to “bet” on a third game, which followed a confident assertion that there was still a story he wanted to tell. This back-and-forth is likely leaving fans eager to see Ellie again feeling anxious. Personally, the thought of Ellie enduring more trauma makes me uneasy.

The ending of The Last of Us Part II had a beautifully ambiguous quality that I appreciated, effectively tying up the narrative threads from the original game in a compelling way. Some might argue that this is a reason to trust Naughty Dog with a third and final installment, but after witnessing the series get mishandled in the HBO adaptation and turned into a production line, I wish everyone involved would take a step back and focus on creating new experiences instead.