A concept for The Last Of Us Part 3 does exist and it involves an unexpected plot point that will change the whole story.
It’s now almost exactly 10 years since Naughty Dog released Uncharted 4 – their last entirely new game, that wasn’t a spin-off, remaster or remake – and we still have no idea when new title Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is going to be out or if they ever intend to make The Last Of Us Part 3.
The studio is known to be working on one other game besides Intergalactic (some think it’s a new Uncharted) and Last Of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann has talked up the possibility of a third The Last Of Us before, confirming last year that a concept for it does exist.
That doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to happen, but for the first time potential plot points have been revealed, via an interview with a former Naughty Dog employee.
YouTube channel Kiwi Talkz recently sat down with Gabriel Betancourt, who worked at Naughty Dog as a senior lighting artist for The Last Of Us series until 2019, leaving about a year before The Last Of Us Part 2 came out.
Betancourt talked a lot about his time at the studio, including how he disagreed with Druckmann about how Ellie’s status as the only one immune to the zombie infection should’ve remained the focal point for the sequel’s story and have a stronger influence on the direction of her character.
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Instead, the sequel is about the consequences of The Last Of Us Part 1’s ending and the cycle of vengeance but, apparently, Druckmann shared with Betancourt a new detail about The Last Of Us’ world that’s not been shown in the games or the TV show: Ellie isn’t the only one who is immune.
According to Betancourt, Druckmann said there’s a congregation of other immune survivors somewhere, adding, ‘What I want to do is… I want to tell a more sophisticated story; I want to tell a story with multiple characters and kind of expand on that.’
It’s unclear if this is the same concept Druckmann was hinting at last year but it’s the first time any plot details about a potential third game have been discussed.
At the time, Druckmann said ‘there’s probably one more chapter to the story,’ but whatever form a new Last Of Us takes, it likely won’t be a thing until the PlayStation 6 is out.
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Whatever the case, fans appear split on whether this congregation of immune survivors idea should be explored at all. Over on Reddit, some fans, like whiteshark70, find it an interesting hook: ‘A society of immune people? Do they only let immune people in? If so, how do they vet people?’
Others, like MrNobody0, believe it’d just make sense for there to be other immune survivors, though some aren’t so keen on the idea. ‘Ellie’s immunity is framed as a one-time miracle and suddenly introducing a group of immune people would lessen her importance,’ argues Meb2x.
There are also general arguments about whether the series should even continue, but higher-ups at Sony are bound to have pushed for another Last Of Us game given the series’ popularity and sales success.
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