Naughty Dog head Neil Druckmann has shared his early sketches of Joel and Ellie from the hit post-apocalyptic video game franchise The Last of Us, teasing more things to come in the process.
Sharing via a post on his Instagram page, Druckmann wrote, “cleaning out the garage today and stumbled on my original sketches from 2003 for a game pitch about a man, his surrogate daughter, and a trek across a broken America,” while posting two images of early versions he had in mind for the 2013 game’s two leading protagonists.
While it was interesting enough to see how the characters’ designs have evolved over the following 10 years, Druckmann closed his post with a tantalising tease, “Been a wild journey,” he concluded. “Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”
With his closing statement, Druckmann seems to suggest that the franchise will not end with 2020’s The Last of Us Part II, hinting at more to come with regard to Ellie’s (or Abby’s) journey.
This isn’t the first time whispers of a third entry have circulated online, as Druckmann also teased back in 2021 that he had already written an early story outline for the threequel, although the project wasn’t in development at that point. Following that, Druckmann once again explained that he was open to making The Last of Us Part III during a Buzzfeed interview in 2023, but only if the team could come up with a “compelling story”.
Finally, in 2024, Druckmann would ignite fans’ hope for a threequel once more, explaining via a documentary titled Grounded II: Making The Last of Us Part II that he had a “concept” ready for what was “probably one more chapter to this story.” Now, with what’s possibly the clearest indication that the studio has more plans in store for the franchise, a third and final chapter might actually be on the horizon.
Even so, this might be one conclusion where fans are in for a long wait, as Naughty Dog is currently hard at work on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, a brand new sci-fi franchise. The Tati Gabrielle-led game, which has so far only received a brief trailer, is still years off, so it makes sense that work on a theoretical The Last of Us Part III would only begin after its release.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
