Last of Us Part 3 might not happen, says Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann

HBO’s adaptation of Last of Us is just ramping up, but that hasn’t stopped fans from being excited about where the video game series could go next after 2018’s Part 2 of The Last of Us. Neil Druckmann (game series creator, HBO show cocreator) updated all on the state of Game Series during his press tour. Part 3It might, but it could happen.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Druckmann said that Naughty Dog hasn’t made a decision yet about what’s next for the mainline The Last of Us series, and it doesn’t feel pressured to either.

“We’re very privileged that our publisher is Sony,” Druckmann said. “They have supported us every step of the way to follow our passions — meaning that just because something is successful, people think there’s all this pressure and we have to make a sequel. That’s not the case. For us, Uncharted was insanely successful — Uncharted 4 was one of our best selling games — and we’re able to put our final brushstroke on that story and say that we’re done. We’re moving on. Likewise, with The Last of Us, it’s up to us whether we want to continue or not.”

That doesn’t mean the series is done for sure though. Druckmann said that they are constantly batting ideas off and on in order to find the perfect story. But until they have the perfect one, we shouldn’t expect another entry in the franchise.

“Our process is the same thing we did when we did Part 2,” Druckmann said to Buzzfeed. “Which is if we can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love — just like the first and second game did — then we will tell that story. If we can’t come up with something, we have a very strong ending with Part 2 and that will be the end.”

Druckmann, whatever happens to The Last of Us games next, has made it very clear that it won’t be long before there is a next numbered entry. Until then, Naughty Dog is currently working on a Last of Us multiplayer spinoff and hasn’t officially said what it’s next big single-player project will be.