The Last of Us Part 3 Gets Surprising Update from Naughty Dog Boss

The Last of Us Part 3 isn’t off the table, according to Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann. It’s no secret that The Last of Us is probably PlayStation’s most prized franchise. They have re-released the only two games in the series multiple times now across PS4, PS5, and PC. It’s almost comical at this point, but it’s obviously working and new people are constantly discovering it. Of course, it’s been in the zeitgeist for well over a decade now and word of mouth has intrigued people into playing it, but there’s also the massively successful The Last of Us TV show on HBO. Yet despite its popularity, it has only had two entries in 12 years.

In the hands of another company, we’d probably have 5 Last of Us games by now and people would be a bit sick of it. However, the reason people love those games is because Naughty Dog has always taken its time and pushed for quality with each game. Still, the fact that it has been five years and there’s no sign of a third game is a bit puzzling. The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann teased a third game about a year ago, noting that he believes there’s one more story to tell in that world with those characters. However, recently, Druckmann appeared to walk back those claims and cast doubt on The Last of Us Part 3. Many feared that the game would never happen, but Druckmann has always tried to keep the door open. Thankfully, it sounds like he still intends to make a third game.

The Last of Us Part 3 May Still Happen

When speaking on the Sacred Symbols podcast, Neil Druckmann revealed that what he said in the Grounded Part 2 documentary – a making of documentary for The Last of Us Part 2 – remains true. That’s the documentary where he had previously teased that a third game might happen and that he had at least some kind of idea for where things could go. However, he believes that it will only happen if they can deliver a high quality product and isn’t in a rush to make it happen.

“I meant what I said in the documentary,” said Druckmann. “While I’m the caretaker of this franchise, it’s important that everything is of high quality. I don’t want to just make a lot of it. I want to be very thoughtful about everything we make. When we made a theme park thing, we teamed up with Universal and the best people to do that Halloween haunted house [attraction]. When we did the show, we teamed up with I feel with the best TV makers with HBO and we’re making the best version of that. If we were ever to come back to it, I want to make sure it’s a story worthy of The Last of Us. I love that world, I love these characters, with the right opportunity, with the right idea, yeah, I would totally jump at it.”

It’s refreshing to hear that Druckmann is acknowledging his past comments and trying to reaffirm people that they remain true. Of course, it sounds like such a game is still probably a ways out. Naughty Dog has two games in the oven right now, one of which is Druckmann’s own brainchild, Intergalactic. That is part of the reason a third game isn’t happening right now, as he’s focused on this new sci-fi game. There’s at least one other game in the works too, which is heavily speculated to be a new Uncharted game, but nothing has been confirmed.

Of course, the wait for a new game in this series would’ve been made easier had The Last of Us Online not been canceled. Although it was a multiplayer game, it was one that would’ve still featured some kind of story and likely felt pretty cinematic. That’s not too hard to imagine in a world where games like Destiny exist and provide frequent expansions with lots of story content, though no one has done it quite at Naughty Dog’s level.

Are you still holding out hope for The Last of Us Part 3? Let me know in the comments.