The Last of Us Part 3 has an outline, but it’s not getting made quite yet

“We’ll see”

Naughty Dog may have more in store for The Last of Us moving past its second part. Creative director Neil Druckmann has said there’s an outline for what happens following The Last of Us Part II, though it’s not in the works right now.

Druckmann and co-writer Halley Gross appeared on the Script Apart podcast (thanks, IGN) to discuss the writing of 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. It’s a long look into the process of writing the sequel, including major themes and discussions of some pretty big moments in the story (yes, spoiler warning) and talk about the upcoming HBO series.

When the subject of a follow-up comes up though, Druckmann says the subject has come up, though there’s a lot of work that goes into creating one because, as he notes, “these games take so much to make.”

“I don’t know how much I want to reveal… [Halley Gross] and I did write an outline for a story, that we’re not making, but I hope one day can see the light of day, that explores a little bit what happens after this game,” said Druckmann. “We’ll see.”

Druckmann notes that there are some “structural and thematic themes” Naughty Dog would have to stick to, if making a third game in the Last of Us series. Patterns start to get set in a series, and it sounds like Naughty Dog is exploring what could be next.

A recent report indicated that would be a PlayStation 5 remake of The Last of Us, though nothing’s been formally announced yet. With The Last of Us Part II now in the rearview, it’ll be interesting to see where the studio goes next.