Neil Druckmann has once again made it clear that Naughty Dog is far from finished with the world of The Last of Us. According to the studio head, multiple projects are currently in the works, and the team intends to discuss them when the time is right.

The story of The Last of Us therefore appears to be far from over. Naughty Dog won over millions of players around the world with Joel and Ellie’s journey, while HBO’s television adaptation continues to introduce new audiences to the post-apocalyptic universe. Although The Last of Us Part III has still not been officially announced, Neil Druckmann has once again confirmed that Naughty Dog has not left the IP behind. The studio still has plans for the franchise and its universe.

Druckmann discussed the future of the franchise during an interview with The Washington Post focused primarily on storytelling and writing in video games. Naughty Dog’s current Studio Head and Head of Creative spoke with Gene Park about how writing for an interactive medium differs from creating stories for film and television. The conversation naturally turned to The Last of Us as well, and it was during that discussion that Druckmann revealed that the studio still has plans for the franchise.

The interview also clarified another important point. According to Druckmann, HBO’s third season of The Last of Us is expected to wrap up the television adaptation of the story covered by the two released games, but he was not involved in shaping the new season’s creative direction, and Naughty Dog did not have a creative role in directing it either. That, however, does not mean the video game franchise itself is coming to an end.

Druckmann explained that Naughty Dog remains the steward of the intellectual property as the creator of the games, and even if this version of the television adaptation is approaching its conclusion, the studio is far from finished with The Last of Us. “We’re not done with The Last of Us. There’s a couple projects in the works,” he said. He added that he will be very excited to discuss them in greater detail when the appropriate time comes.

Druckmann did not provide any concrete details about what those projects actually are. It remains unknown whether Naughty Dog is developing new video games, smaller spin-offs, or projects that might not be directly connected to the video game industry at all. His comments will inevitably reignite speculation surrounding The Last of Us Part III, especially considering how the story of The Last of Us Part II concluded. Druckmann still has not officially announced the existence of a third mainline game, however.

Neil Druckmann Has Been Hinting at The Last of Us’ Return for Years

This is not the first time Neil Druckmann has left the door open for another chapter of The Last of Us. Back in 2023, he suggested that a third installment could be a genuine possibility if Naughty Dog found the right story. In 2024, he went a step further by saying that he felt there was probably one more chapter to this story. Unsurprisingly, that comment immediately sparked another wave of speculation about The Last of Us Part III. In 2025, Druckmann used similarly suggestive language again when he revealed that the studio was working on various things related to The Last of Us.

Now, in 2026, he has once again confirmed that projects connected to the future of the IP are underway. The approach has remained consistent for years: Druckmann does not announce a specific new game, but repeatedly makes it clear that Joel, Ellie, and Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic universe have not been permanently shelved.

That is particularly noteworthy because Naughty Dog has had a relatively quiet presence with The Last of Us as a developer during the PlayStation 5 generation. The studio spent years developing the ambitious multiplayer project The Last of Us Online, but development was ultimately canceled in late 2023. Naughty Dog explained at the time that supporting such a massive game for years would effectively have required the company to become a dedicated live-service studio, while the team wanted to continue concentrating on the narrative-driven single-player games that have traditionally defined it.

As a result, the most significant The Last of Us game releases during the PS5 era have largely consisted of new versions of existing titles, including the The Last of Us Part I remake and The Last of Us Part II Remastered. Naughty Dog has nevertheless previously confirmed that it is working on more than one ambitious single-player project. One of those projects is already public: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the studio’s new science-fiction IP, which has been in development since 2020 for PlayStation 5. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is currently one of Naughty Dog’s biggest priorities, and a significant part of the development team is focused on the project.

That means fans may still have a substantial wait ahead of them before another major The Last of Us game is officially revealed, even if one is already in development. For now, the most important part of Druckmann’s latest comments is not that he confirmed The Last of Us Part III, because he did not, but that he made one thing unmistakably clear: Naughty Dog is still actively planning the future of the franchise, and The Last of Us has not said its final word.

Source: 3DJuegos, The Washington Post, Naughty Dog