Naughty Dog Is Not Done With The Last Of Us

Neil Druckmann stepped away from HBO’s The Last of Us after Season 2 to focus fully on Naughty Dog, and in a new interview with The Washington Post, he made clear just how far removed he’s been from what came next.

Druckmann Steps Back From Season 3

Druckmann said Season 3 will “wrap up” the story told across the first two games, but he had nothing to do with shaping it. “I wasn’t involved in shaping this season’s creative direction, and Naughty Dog did not have a creative role in the direction of this season,” he said. “So I can’t personally speak to how production is progressing.”

“We’re Not Done With The Last Of Us”

That distance from the show doesn’t mean Naughty Dog is walking away from the franchise itself.

“It’s important for us to note that as the creator of the games, Naughty Dog is still the steward of this IP and even though this might be the end of this adaptation, we’re not done with ‘The Last of Us,'” Druckmann said.

He also talked about the projects currently in development: “There’s a couple projects in the works that, when the time is right, I’m very excited to talk about.”

This isn’t the first time Druckmann’s dropped a hint like this either. He’s said before that there are “a few stops that remain on the road ahead” for the series, and by now he’s fielded the third-game question more times than he’d probably like.

What TV Taught Him About Making Games

He touched on his time writing for TV too, and how it’s changed his process. Not in the way you’d guess, though. Writing itself hasn’t really shifted for him. Production is where the lessons landed.

A big-budget TV show means juggling departments, lighting, makeup, dozens of moving pieces that games just don’t deal with in the same way. Druckmann says he’s bringing that back to Naughty Dog now, where the team is deep into Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, its sci-fi game starring Tati Gabrielle and Tony Dalton.