The story in part 3 of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us series may explore a congregation of immune people.
During an interview with KIWI TALKZ, former Naughty Dog Lighting Artist Gabriel Betancourt shared details on early ideas for The Last of Us Part 2 and a direction the the story may take in the rumored Part 3. He discussed scrapped features, early development momentum, and conversations with studio president and director Neil Druckmann on the series’ narrative.
According to Betancourt, the development team at Naughty Dog initially explored the possibility of a dynamic time-of-day system for The Last of Us Part 2. “They wanted to do a dynamic time of day system, which I was working on at the time,” he explained. He described the early production period as “the best pre-production and the first two years I’ve ever seen in the history of Naughty Dog,” with no crunch and rapid progress across multiple experimental modules.
On the narrative side, Betancourt recalled pushing back on the idea of moving away from Ellie being the sole individual who is immune to the Cordyceps infection. In response, Druckmann shared a different vision, telling Betancourt that he envisioned the idea of several people in the fictional world being immune, and that there would be a place where a whole congregation of those kind of people would exist. The director wanted to tell a more sophisticated story involving multiple characters that are immune to the plague.
This concept of immunity being more widespread has yet to be explored in The Last of Us series, suggesting that it may be a focal point for the narrative in Part 3. As such, the next entry may involve communities of immune survivors, exploring plot angles such as societal dynamics, morality, and conflicting perspectives.
The Last of Us Part 2 was originally released on June 19, 2020, for PlayStation 4. A Remastered version is also available for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.
