Neil Druckmann on The Last of Us Part III: 'Don't Bet on There Being More Last of Us' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 March 2025 / 6,915 Views
Naughty Dog Studio Head and Head of Creative Neil Druckmann in an interview with Variety was asked about the possibility of The Last of Us Part III and his response makes it seem unlikely a third entry will happen.
"I was waiting for this question," said Druckmann. "I guess the only thing I would say is don’t bet on there being more of Last of Us. This could be it."
The second season of the HBO series, The Last of Us, is set to premiere on Max on April 13. It takes place five years after first season and covers part of the story in The Last of Us Part 2. One or two more seasons will be needed to finish the story.
Developer Naughty Dog last December did announce its next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, for the PlayStation 5. It has been in development since 2020.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered is currently available for the PS5 and will launch for PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on April 3, 2025.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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The original had already ended in a satisfying way. The sequel was unnecessary, imo.
This. I was not a fan of Part 2, but generally consider Part 1 among my all-time favorite games.
Personally I never thought the original needed a sequel.
Well, do you need a third, if you can remaster the first two games each gen?
Enjoyed the first, disliked the second. Should have stayed as a stand alone game. Didn't need a sequel.
The sequel was completely unnecessary.
worst story ever told comes to an end, release it already to get it over with, cant wait to not play it.
If gamers keep rewarding them with purchases of their retreads of the first two games, why should they ever make a third?
Sony's first parties studios seem unable to do a series for long... Naughty dog got crash, then jak, then uncharted, then the last of us, none went through more than 4 episodes (considering lost legacy as a spin off), insomniac don't seem to know where to go with ratchet and spiderman (lore wise) is not their own creation, plus they ditched resistance.
God of war got rebooted once, killzone is dead, infamous is dead, sly is dead, dark cloud is dead.
Well, the only series still going with more than 4 games is gt...and well, it can't be said that it's story driven.
Will ghost and horizon go beyond 2, 3 or 4, maybe...
Imagine how fragile their series are, the oldest is a rebooted ps2 one and it's the only one they have which is active (somehow, who knows what they'll do after ragnarok) apart from gt. Ghost and Horizon are from ps4, ratchet is not really active yet not dead though, all others are dead or yet to come (Intergalactic).
All companies need to have strong series they can rely on, square has ff and dq, among others, capcom has resident evil and monster hunter, nintendo has zelda, mario, etc....
Imagine a ps4 player buying a ps5 thinkng he'll get a new uncharted, a new tlou, a new infamous, a new killzone, anything i might not remember...
In terms of games, it might be the lamest sony gen ever and they can say such things ? Good for them that microsoft is going multi now, because ps5 is not a good sign for ps6's hope as it is.
"Sony's first parties studios seem unable to do a series for long"
What game studios have long driven stories spanning multiple entries?
Like you talk about Final Fantasy, but every Final Fantasy game is less connected than God of War is. You're writing off God of War because they rebooted with a new design, even though it still has a contiguous story, while talking about Final Fantasy which basically every mainline entry is a bigger reboot than GoW is.
Mario isn't very story driven.
There are a couple of interesting examples in there, but they're pretty rare.
I think it's a strength for Sony that they're not rehashing the same kind of game all of the time, and that their studios can work on new projects that they find interesting.
People downvoting comments that speak about part 2 in a positive way is embarrassing. What is wrong about having an opinion that is different from yours? 🤦♂️
Maybe they just want to avoid another leak situation like what happened with part 2.
Placing a bet right now, Sony's IP, not his.
Sony: We're done when I say we're done.
The Last of Us Part 2 are one of my favorite game, I loved after almost 5 years people still talked about it despite people hate or loved it.
It affected the game industry as a whole, some have Cinderela syndrom some just accepted that even our beloved character could die tragically.
Traditionally wise, not every one could accepted it and I'm not trying to act as open minded player.
Against popular opinion I never cared for part 1, but part 2 is among my all-time favorite games. While I think a part 3 wouldn't be needed I think it would be cool if it happened and tied up the loose ends.
I don't mind either way, both games are excellent as far as I'm concerned. If a third game does happen I will almost certainly play it, but I don't think the story necessarily needs to be continued at this point, though the second game did end in a way that usually would suggest a sequel, with Ellie ending up at pretty much the lowest possible point. Just have to wait and see what happens.
TLOU III is a nobrainer!! It will complete the Story, hopefully PS5 only as i would like to get it physical, but that should be about it!
I would be very disappointed if we didn't get at least one more game.
That's nonsense. There's definitely more to this story. Besides, the second part is supposed to be the bleak one, and the final part of the trilogy is the redemption. That's how it goes, right?
I really think you can do more things with this world and the remaining characters.
They need to conclude the story as part 2 ending was not complete
People keep saying they dislike 2 becoz of how someone was killed,
That's the only reason the game got hate other than that it's a phenomenal game
No, it’s not the only reason or in fact the main reason. If you don’t know why this game gets hate then spare yourself the hassle and just move on. There is nothing positive there.
Yeah, Part 2 was a very interesting social experiment and it told me a lot about myself. I was able to overcome my bias and see things from both perspectives. We tend to love characters based on exposure to them and feeling like we have gotten to know them. Depending on whose side we happen to see and get to know first, we start thinking that that is the "right" side, no matter what. Because that's all we know traditionally., when it comes to storytelling.
As much as I loved Joel, I think tragedy has its place in stories and even our favorites should not enjoy endless plot armor so that nothing bad can ever happen to them. It's unreasonable to expect that just to protect one's own feelings.
