Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has revealed The Last of Us 3 or a sequel with a different name is not a certainty at the moment despite the success of the previous games and the ongoing HBO TV series. It will be up to the studio to decide whether they want to continue the franchise, which they will do if they “can come up with a compelling story”.
The Last of Us 2 already has “a very strong ending”
If Naughty Dog decides not to continue with a sequel like The Last of Us 3, Druckmann feels like The Last of Us 2 has “a very strong ending” and that it could serve as the conclusion to the franchise. He told BuzzFeed that the only way the franchise would continue is if they “can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love” and if they can’t do this then the franchise will come to an end:
With The Last of Us, it’s up to us whether we want to continue it or not. Our process is the same thing we did when we did Part 2, 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 also clarified that Sony is not putting any pressure on the studio to deliver a sequel despite the success of the previous games. Rumors had previously claimed The Last of Us 3 was already in production at the studio, but these were swiftly debunked by Druckmann himself. Meanwhile, the HBO TV series has not officially been renewed for season 2 although the team is planning to tell the entirety of TLoU Part 2 if it is.
