Naughty Dog Says There’s ‘Probably One More Chapter’ In The Last Of Us

[Prometheus]

If, for whatever reason, you weren’t satisfied with the hopeful ambiguity of The Last of Us Part II’s ending, it sounds like Naughty Dog still thinks there’s at least one more bullet in the chamber for the series. Director Neil Druckmann has revealed in the Grounded II: The Making of The Last of Us Part II documentary that he still thinks there’s a third chapter in this story. And god, I wish he would just let protagonist Ellie sort her life out in peace.

In the documentary, Druckmann explained that while he was previously quoted saying that Naughty Dog had an outline for a third Last of Us game, this wasn’t actually the case back in 2021. At that point, he was referring to a side story that focused on Tommy, the brother of Part I protagonist Joel, who ends in a revenge-fueled rage with no closure. That concept has since been shelved, and Druckmann actually has a concept for a potential third game (thanks Gematsu).

“The first game had such a clean concept of the unconditional love a parent feels for their child,” Druckmann said. “The second one, once we landed on this idea of the pursuit of justice at any cost, justice for the ones you love, it felt like there’s a clean concept here and there’s a through-line from the first game about love. If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point. The last bite of the apple, the story’s done.”

“I’ve been thinking about, ‘Is there a concept there?’ And for now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept,” he continued. “But recently, that’s changed. I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept, that, to me…is its own thing, yet has this through-line for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”

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