With all eyes on Naughty Dog’s upcoming game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, it’s nice to get a sneaky tease as to what might come after this 2027 release. After all, the game company that brought us the Uncharted franchise, The Last of Us Part 1 & 2 and the Crash Bandicoot series certainly deserves our attention. And while the spotlight is firmly on their upcoming space epic, it’s still nice to learn that one of their franchises might be getting a third installment.

The studio head of Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann, let slip a rather deliberately curated picture of his desk on his Instagram stories yesterday. The photo itself shows a lot of inspiring anime merchandise from Akira and Cowboy Bebop, which no doubt is a wink and a nod towards the upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. However, the most notable item in the photo is a stack of VHS tapes.

The tapes are labeled The Last of Us and notably, there are three of them. Each are numbered 1 to 3 on the spine of the tapes and would suggest that The Last of Us Part 3 is going to be a reality soon. Many felt that the writing in the second game got a little off track, so getting a third installment might give fans a chance to experience a more complete and satisfying end to the story. Ellie’s story might not be done just yet.

If The Last of Us Part 2 becomes just the awkward middle child in a trilogy, then the potential for the adventure to finish strong is undeniably intriguing. Speculating where the narrative might go next has us gamers losing our minds. Some Redditors believe that the VHS tapes are just a tease for season 3 of the TV show, but as Neil Druckmann is no longer involved in that project, it seems unlikely. With everything else in the photo pointing towards Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, logic would dictate that the tapes refer to The Last of Us games.

One Redditor summed it up perfectly:

It’s worth noting that he has stopped all of his work on the show and completely left it. He also said “there is probably one more chapter to the story” and just recently said that there are a “few stops that remain on the road ahead” while directly referring to the last of us. Is it that hard to open your mind and not be oblivious to the fact that eventually we will get Part 3?

Speculating on what The Last of Us Part 3 might look like is pure fuel for the fan base. Where will the story take us? Will we see some closure and perhaps a happy ending for Ellie? Will we get more snippets of Joel from the past? Will Abby continue the cycle of vengeance and violence? Food for thought while we wait for Grand Theft Auto VI’s gameplay trailer 3 reveal.

Aside from The Last of Us: Powerlines, it could be a long time before we see something new if at all in the world of TLOU. Nothing is certain, but with the popularity of the franchise and the success of the TV series, it seems almost certain that The Last of Us Part 3 is coming. We’ve not seen the last of The Last of Us!

Released

January 19, 2024

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Engine

Proprietary Engine