During a recent podcast appearance, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann revealed that he and his co-writer on The Last of Us, Halley Gross, have already written a story outline for The Last of Us Part III. However, he is still unsure when, and if, the next entry in the critically-acclaimed franchise will enter development.
According to Druckmann (via IGN), the current outline explores “a little bit of what happens after [The Last of Us Part II].” For those still coming to terms with the sequel’s fairly bleak ending, a third game could offer so much needed closure or, dare we say it, a happy ending for Ellie.
Still, Druckmann says despite these conversations, the studio is hesitant to fast-track a third game into development. “After we finish one of our big titles, we take a long time to explore different ideas, whether it’s going to be Last of Us III, whether it’s something new, whether there’s some old franchise we want to go back to,” Druckmann said. “I like to fully explore all of those, then look at, like: okay, we have all of these ideas in front of us. As a studio, what do we want to commit to? Because it’s a huge commitment – monetary, time, passion, talent, so you think about all the opportunity costs that come with that.”
While the jury is still out on if The Last of Us Part III will ever see the light of day, fans of the series can rejoice over the upcoming HBO series staring Game of Thrones veterans Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.