Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann says that neither he nor the studio are involved with the third season of the HBO TV adaptation of the beloved video game, but says that the developer “isn’t done” with the franchise yet.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Druckmann said, “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. So I can’t personally speak to how production is progressing.” He then pretty clearly suggested that Naughty Dog will take on future projects in The Last of Us universe, though whether that’s a proper The Last of Us Part 3, a resurrection of the canceled The Last of Us Online multiplayer project, or something else remains to be seen. “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,” he added, referring to the HBO show’s third season, “we’re not done with The Last of Us. There’s a couple projects in the works that, when the time is right, I’m very excited to talk about.”
Naughty Dog is currently focused on its next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which was a no-show at today’s Sony State of Play, but did recently wrap cinematic shooting. It does not yet have a release window.
On The Last of Us TV show, meanwhile, Peter Sarsgaard has been cast in a role for an original character not featured in the games, while Li Jun Li was cast as Miriam, among numerous other cast announcements. We also recently learned that Matthew McConaughey turned down the part of Joel, which of course went to Pedro Pascal.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
