The Last of Us has been a pillar IP for the PlayStation brand over the last decade or so, and has cemented series developer Naughty Dog as one of the marquee studios under Sony's umbrella. It's somewhat surprising, then, that there are technically only two games in the entire franchise. The original The Last of Us debuted on the PlayStation 3 in 2013, right at the end of the system's life cycle. It was then followed up by a sequel in 2020 called The Last of Us Part 2, a 2023 live action HBO TV show adaptation with the same name, and a 2022 PS5 remake dubbed The Last of Us Part 1.
So far, the future of The Last of Us franchise seems up in the air at the moment. Other than the now-canceled live service spin-off named The Last of Us Online, Naughty Dog hasn't announced any new TLOU games since the release of The Last of Us Part 2. One of the co-creators of the franchise, Neil Druckmann, has expressed interest in telling more stories in the Last of Us universe, but it's unclear whether he is referring to a full-on sequel to TLOU Part 2 or a spin-off of some kind. Even if a hypothetical The Last of Us Part 3 is in development, it will take a long time to release, with the gap between releases mirroring that of The Elder Scrolls 6 and its beloved predecessor.
Now that Naughty Dog has announced its next project, The Last of Us franchise is primed to have an interesting year ahead of it.
