The Last of Us TV series is scheduled to premiere January 15 on HBO, and if the show is a success, it should provide motivation for Naughty Dog to get the third game in the series out as soon as possible. The first season of The Last of Us TV series will consist of nine episodes that cover the storyline from the original Last of Us video game. It's expected that a potential season 2 would adapt The Last of Us 2.

There is a time jump between The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2 that moves the story forward by about five years. Considering this, there shouldn't necessarily be a rush to produce season 2 of the show. Since Joel and Ellie are supposed to be older anyway, it shouldn't matter that actors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are older as well. Assuming a second season of The Last of Us TV series isn't rushed out, that should give Naughty Dog time to make The Last of Us 3 so the series can truly finish its story.

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In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann addressed concerns that the TV series would run into the same situation as Game of Thrones, which ran out of source material to pull from. Druckmann confirmed that there were no plans to tell stories beyond what's shown in the Last of Us video games. But while The Last of Us 2 doesn't end on a cliffhanger, there is clearly still room to tell stories in the game's universe, and if there are plans to do that, it would make sense for Naughty Dog to focus on getting The Last of Us 3 out in a timely-enough fashion so there isn't an absurd amount of time between seasons 2 and 3 of the TV series.

Will There Be a Last of Us 3?

last of us part 1 key art

Naughty Dog has yet to confirm that The Last of Us 3 even exists, though in the same Hollywood Reporter interview, Druckmann hinted that there are still Last of Us stories left to tell. Many fans would like to see what happens to Ellie after The Last of Us 2, and if the HBO adaptation is as big as many expect it to be, one has to imagine HBO would like to see a potential third game adapted into a season of television.

The success of The Last of Us video games and the potential of the HBO series means that a Last of Us 3 is highly likely, but the question remains when such a game will come out. Right now, Naughty Dog is working on a Last of Us multiplayer game, and rumor has it that the studio has some kind of fantasy or sci-fi game in the works as well. Rumors have also said that The Last of Us 3 is in active development at Naughty Dog, but that has not been confirmed at the time of this writing.

The Last of Us 3 is rumored to be in development.

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Source: The Hollywood Reporter