Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann has confirmed that the studio is focused on its current project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and that The Last of Us Part 3 is not in development.
During an interview, Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann was asked to shed light on his earlier comment about having a concept or an outline for a third entry, him recently saying that fans shouldn’t bet on it happening, and what caused this change in vision. In response, he clarified that The Last of Us Part 3 is not in development.
Druckmann mentioned that he’s never taken his career for granted, and that he treats every project he works on as his last one. For him, this started all the way back when he began directing The Last of Us Part 1. At the time, he didn’t know if he would get another chance at that role again, therefore he was uncompromising. It had to be his way or the highway, and he admitted that he was very unpleasant to work with at the time. He said that the story was structured in a way that it had a definitive ending because he didn’t know if he could come back for a sequel or ever revisit the world of The Last of Us again. After release, the game became wildly successful, and he got to do a sequel. He also mentioned taking the same approach with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, by giving it a definitive ending.
The Naughty Dog president further stated that the studio is in a lucky position, where it doesn’t have to make a sequel if it doesn’t want to. According to him, that’s how much Sony Interactive Entertainment executives trust the development team. He feels that the story of The Last of Us has come full circle, as there is a definitive ending for this moment in time. He mentioned that he’s currently has his hands full with the development of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which he is also treating like his last project. He also said that if HBO’s The Last of Us TV series gets renewed for another season, he’ll have that to work on. He’s aware that this adaptation goes beyond a single season.
Druckmann’s current assumption is that there will be no more of The Last of Us. He said that if stars align and everything comes into place, something may happen well. Regarding whether he has had conversations about repurposing the outline for Part 3 for the TV series instead if the opportunity presents itself, Druckmann clarified that there’s no secret outline for the third entry. When he worked on Season 2, he worked all the way to the end of the story because he has to have an ending in mind else he won’t know how to make decisions. Every time he has a bunch of options to go ahead with for a scene or moment, he picks the option that brings him closest to the vision that works towards that eventual ending.
