Neil Druckmann has a concept for a third The Last of Us: “It does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story”

Naughty Dog co-president and The Last of Us series co-creator Neil Druckmann has a concept for a third The Last of Us game that he describes as exciting as The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II, he said at the end of the newly aired documentary “Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II.”

“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.”

Druckmann continued, “I’ve been thinking about, ‘Is there a concept there?’ And for now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept. But recently that’s changed. I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept, that, to me, is as exciting as I, as exciting as II, 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.”

Here is the full quote from Druckmann:

“I did some other interview where someone asked me about The Last of Us, and would there be any more stories or something. I mentioned we have written a story that takes place after Last of Us II that stars Tommy. I hope one day we get to make it. The headlines across the industry were like, ‘Naughty Dog has outlined The Last of Us Part III.’ And that’s actually wrong. It was always a small story, it was never a full title.

“At the time, we had higher priorities at Naughty Dog, to fix our pipeline, to fix work-life balance issues. Just based on where we were, I didn’t wanna prioritize this story, so that story was shelved. I still believe one day it will see the light of day. I don’t know if it’ll be a game or a show… TBD.

“The first game had such a clean concept of the unconditional love a parent feels for their child. 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.

“The great thing about working at Naughty Dog is that we don’t have to. It’s always like, we would love another Last of Us, but if you guys are passionate about something else, we’ll support this other thing. Very privileged position to be in. I never take that for granted.

“I’ve been thinking about, ‘Is there a concept there?’ And for now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept. But recently that’s changed. I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept, that, to me, is as exciting as I, as exciting as II, 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.”