Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann says there may not be a sequel to The Last of Us Part II. According to him, there may not be any more The Last of Us games, although he has previously said that he has a concept for The Last of Us Part III. Druckmann has often hinted at another entry in the critically acclaimed series, but his latest retreat came after Naughty Dog confirmed an entirely new series was in development. The studio launched the PS5 sci-fi action-adventure game Star: Heretic Prophet in December.
Druckmann on The Last of Us Part III
Druckmann made the comments in an interview about The Last of Us Season 2 published by Variety on Wednesday. The Naughty Dog boss discussed the second season of the hit HBO adaptation of the game series, which premieres on April 13. In a wide-ranging interview, Druckmann discussed casting for next season, story changes on the show and more, while also touching on the prospect of making The Last of Us Part III.
“I’ve been waiting for this question,” Druckmann said when asked about a possible third game in the series. “I guess the only thing I’d say is don’t bet on more The Last of Us. This could be it.”
His latest comments go against his previous statements about a potential third The Last of Us game. In a documentary released last year about the making of The Last of Us Part II, Druckmann said he finally had a concept for a third game.
“I’ve been thinking, ‘Is there a concept in this?’ I couldn’t find the concept for years. But recently, things have changed and I don’t have the story, but I do have the concept that to me, as exciting as 1 is, as exciting as 2, is its own thing, but there’s this thread for all three. So it feels like there might be another chapter to that story,” Druckmann said of a potential The Last of Us Part III.
Naughty Dog is also involved in The Last of Us Online, a multiplayer game set in a post-apocalyptic game world. But the studio canceled the game in December 2023, choosing instead to focus on single-player projects.
At the 2024 Game Awards in December, the Sony-owned studio finally announced Interstellar: Prophets of Heretic, its first new IP in nearly two decades. Druckmann confirmed at the time of the game’s launch that the sci-fi game has been in development on PS5 since 2020. “This game is going to be our craziest, most creative story yet,” he said.
The last mainline game in the “The Last of Us” series is “The Last of Us Part 2”, released on PS4 in 2020. Naughty Dog has since released The Last of Us Remastered and Part 2 Remastered on PS5.