While HBO continues to work on its live-action adaptation of The Last of Us, Naughty Dog boss Neil Druckmann has revealed that the studio isn’t part of the production of the show’s third season. In an interview with The Washington Post, Druckmann was asked about how production has been progressing, and said that he can’t personally speak to any updates regarding the matter.
“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.”
Despite this, however, he also said that Naughty Dog is far from done with The Last of Us as a whole. While HBO might eventually wrap up its adaptation of the franchise, he noted that “we’re not done with The Last of Us. There’s a couple of projects in the works that, when the time is right, I’m very excited to talk about.” This comes down to the fact that “It’s important for us to note that as the creator of the games, Naughty Dog is still the steward of this IP”.
It is worth noting that the last major project based on The Last of Us at Naughty Dog was a live-service multiplayer game that ultimately got canceled. While not too many details about it were revealed, former team members who worked on the project, like its director, Vinit Agarwal, have spoken about how positive the feedback had been during playtests.
“It’s wild how many of my ex-colleagues still message me today saying how amazing TLOU Online was going to be — still the best multiplayer game they’ve ever played. Never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again. Thank you all for your support and confidence!”
When it was canceled, Naughty Dog confirmed that development on the multiplayer project had begun during the development of The Last of Us Part 2. Ultimately, the studio decided to scrap it due to the resources that would be required to support the game following its launch.
“The multiplayer team has been in pre-production with this game since we were working on The Last of Us Part 2 – crafting an experience we felt was unique and had tremendous potential,” Naughty Dog wrote. “As the multiplayer team iterated on their concept for The Last of Us Online during this time, their vision crystallized, the gameplay got more refined and satisfying, and we were enthusiastic about the direction in which we were headed.”
“In ramping up to full production, the massive scope of our ambition became clear. To release and support The Last of Us Online, we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post-launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games. So, we had two paths in front of us: become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.”
In the meantime, The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered are available on PS5 and PC. Older versions of The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2 are available on PS4.
