Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog has a couple of The Last of Us projects in the works, while confirming the studio has no creative role in HBO season 3.
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Store links: The Last of Us Part I on Steam
Naughty Dog is stepping back from HBO while keeping hold of the IP
Neil Druckmann has drawn the cleanest line yet between two different versions of The Last of Us future. In comments to The Washington Post, quoted by IGN, Kotaku, Nerdist, MP1st, and Shacknews, the Naughty Dog studio head said he was not involved in shaping the creative direction of HBO The Last of Us season 3, and that Naughty Dog “did not have a creative role in the direction of this season.”
That is the concrete development. The studio that created The Last of Us is not steering the next season of the HBO adaptation. At the same time, Druckmann said Naughty Dog remains “the steward of this IP” and added that the studio is “not done with The Last of Us.” According to the same quote, there are “a couple projects in the works” that he is excited to discuss when the time is right.
The tension is obvious: the television adaptation appears to be moving toward its end without Naughty Dog’s creative hand on the wheel, while the game studio is signaling that its own relationship with the world of Joel, Ellie, Abby, and the infected is still active. Those two facts sit side by side, but they do not confirm the same thing.
What Druckmann actually confirmed, and what he did not
The confirmed part is narrow but important. Druckmann said he cannot personally speak to how HBO season 3 production is progressing because he was not involved in its creative direction. He also said Naughty Dog had no creative role in that season’s direction. That is a direct statement about authorship and oversight, not a vague scheduling comment.
On the game side, the confirmed language is broader and less specific. Druckmann said Naughty Dog is “not done with The Last of Us” and that “a couple projects” are in the works. The phrase confirms activity around the franchise, but it does not name The Last of Us Part III, does not revive The Last of Us Online, does not identify platforms, does not mention release timing, and does not say whether both projects are games.
That distinction matters for readers tracking Naughty Dog The Last of Us plans. A studio head saying projects exist is a meaningful signal, especially from a company that has spent years fielding questions about the series’ future. It is still short of an announcement. There is no title, trailer, logo, store page, rating, platform listing, price, or release window in the sourced material.
The Part III question is still unanswered
IGN framed the obvious fan question around whether The Last of Us Part III might happen after all, while MP1st argued that Druckmann’s comments “basically confirm” more The Last of Us games are on the way. Shacknews described the quote as the closest thing to an announcement of a new The Last of Us game since the multiplayer spin-off was canceled in 2023, but also noted there is no word on whether the projects include Part III, a spin-off, or something else.
The safer reading is that Naughty Dog is keeping the franchise alive without yet telling players what form that life takes. “A couple projects” could fit a major sequel, a smaller game, a different adaptation, a remaster-adjacent release, a companion project, or something outside the usual boxed-game expectation. The sources do not settle that question.
There is also recent history working against easy assumptions. Shacknews noted that Druckmann previously told people not to bet on a third game in the series. IGN and MP1st both point back to the canceled The Last of Us Online project when discussing possible interpretations of the new comments. MP1st also references a report that the canceled online project cost Naughty Dog hundreds of millions of dollars and delayed Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Because that cost-and-delay claim is presented as a report, it should be treated as context for caution rather than as a confirmed production account in this piece.
For a series built on irreversible choices, the studio’s wording feels deliberately controlled. Naughty Dog is saying the door is open. It is not showing what is behind it.
HBO season 3 is a separate track now
The Last of Us season 3 should be treated as its own production path, based on Druckmann’s comments. Nerdist reported that the upcoming third season will be the last one, while Kotaku also described the HBO series as set to wrap after season 3 rather than stretch into a fourth season. Druckmann’s quote refers to season 3 as something that “might be the end of this adaptation,” which lines up with that reporting but is phrased less absolutely in the quoted material.
The season is not empty of known movement. IGN reports that Peter Sarsgaard has been cast as an original character not featured in the games, Li Jun Li has been cast as Miriam, and other casting has included roles such as Lev and Yara. Kotaku identifies season 3 as starring Kaitlyn Dever as Abby. Those details indicate the HBO show is still advancing as an adaptation, but they do not indicate Naughty Dog involvement.
Several outlets in the source material attach strong opinion to the separation. Kotaku’s piece is openly hostile to HBO’s version of The Last of Us, while Nerdist calls Naughty Dog’s lack of involvement a “foolish choice.” Those are editorial judgments from those outlets, not confirmed facts about season 3’s quality, fidelity, or outcome. The supported fact is simpler: Druckmann says he and Naughty Dog did not shape this season’s creative direction, so any speculation about whether that helps or hurts the show remains speculation.
Intergalactic is still the studio’s visible priority
The other piece of context is Naughty Dog’s current workload. IGN reports that Naughty Dog is focused on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, its next game, which recently wrapped cinematic shooting but does not yet have a release window. Shacknews says Intergalactic is in development for PS5 and that Naughty Dog was absent from the latest PlayStation State of Play.
That makes the timing around The Last of Us future difficult to read. A completed cinematic shoot is a production milestone, but it is not the same as a launch date or a finished game. If Intergalactic remains the studio’s public-facing project and still has no release window in the cited reporting, then any unannounced The Last of Us work is even harder to place on a calendar.
Naughty Dog’s best games tend to move with a sharp sense of escalation: quiet traversal, sudden violence, a set-piece that tightens the camera around the player until every bullet feels expensive. Studio production rarely moves with that kind of visible rhythm. Projects can exist for years before players know whether they are holding a controller, watching a cutscene, or reading a casting announcement. Druckmann’s comments place The Last of Us back on the board, but Intergalactic remains the piece everyone can actually see.
The practical read for players and HBO viewers
If you are waiting for The Last of Us Part III, nothing in the current source material confirms it. Do not treat Druckmann’s quote as a sequel announcement. There is no confirmed release date, platform list, price, gameplay direction, or production timeline for any new The Last of Us game.
If you are following HBO The Last of Us season 3, the key fact is that Naughty Dog is not creatively involved in the direction of the season, according to Druckmann. That does not automatically tell viewers whether the season will be stronger, weaker, closer to the games, or more willing to diverge. It only clarifies who is not shaping it from the Naughty Dog side.
If you are tracking the franchise as a whole, the story is a split path. HBO is continuing toward season 3 without Naughty Dog creative input. Naughty Dog, meanwhile, is keeping The Last of Us alive internally with a couple of undisclosed projects. Until the studio names those projects, the cleanest answer is also the least dramatic one: The Last of Us is not over, but the next game-shaped chapter has not been announced.