Naughty Dog Has Two The Last of Us Projects in Development
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Published Sep 29, 2026, 9:24 AM EDT
Austin Manchester is a writer and editor living in New York City. At Polygon, he covers gaming and entertainment news, reviews new video games, interviews behind-the-scenes talent, and more. He enjoys discovering hidden gems and sharing them with Polygon's audience. Previously, he was the gaming editor for AIPT Comics and has written for other outlets like XDA, How-To Geek, and The List.
He enjoys soulslikes, character-driven RPGs, and third-person shooters plucked straight out of the Xbox 360 era. He also likes to flex his non-video game nerdy knowledge sometimes, whether that's explaining who's who in the new Wolverine game or recommending a comic book series about a sentient sword.
But the studio stopped short of saying 'Part 3'
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Naughty Dog celebrated The Last of Us Day on Monday. The festivities were headlined by clicker-inspired armor for Ghost of Yōtei, but the developer also gave away PlayStation avatars and discounted the PC versions of both The Last of Us games. To close out the day, studio head Neil Druckmann shared a message to let fans know Naughty Dog is working on more The Last of Us projects, but wouldn't say exactly what.
"We have a couple of very exciting new projects in very early stages," Druckmann said. Of course, he couldn't say much more about them at this point — such is the secrecy of big-budget game development. "I will tell you that both projects will expand the canon of The Last of Us beyond Part 1 and Part 2."
Druckmann's been at this game for a while and didn't give fans much to go off of; "expand the canon" is vague enough it could mean anything. "The world of The Last of Us means a great deal to us, and we wouldn’t return to it unless we had something meaningful to say. We believe these stories are worth telling," Druckmann said.
Though the idea of two The Last of Us projects is exciting, fans have reason to keep their guard up. Naughty Dog was hard at work on a multiplayer The Last of Us game for years before it was eventually canceled. There's no guarantee these projects will ever be seen by the public.
Naughty Dog gives an official update on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Those two The Last of Us projects aren't all that Naughty Dog has in the works. Its next game is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet (say that just one time fast), which debuted at the 2024 Game Awards. Druckmann said the team is "heads down" on Intergalactic, which is becoming the studio's "most ambitious game yet."
As such, don't expect to hear anything more about it soon as the studio is being tight-lipped for the rest of 2026. "In 2027, that changes. We’ll fully reveal Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and give you a proper look at Jordan’s wild sci-fi adventure."
If you take Druckmann at his word, that means we shouldn't expect any new trailer for Intergalactic at this year's upcoming Game Awards. Sony usually holds States of Play in February and June, so it's possible Intergalactic might show up at one of them next year.