The Last of Us: Part III is inevitable. Both previous The Last of Us titles have been monster hits for Sony, with their exclusivity driving hardware sales. Beyond that, interest in the franchise spiked earlier this year with the excellent HBO adaptation of the first game. But developer Naughty Dog hasn’t officially confirmed that it’s in development, though in 2021 creator Neil Druckmann admitted that he had a story outline he hopes can “one day see the light of day.”
Now it seems that the wheels are well and truly spinning. Veteran leaker Daniel Richtman is usually known for his Marvel leaks, though via his Patreon, he’s revealed some Part III character details that appear to come from a casting sheet. These four characters will be a group who’ve made their base in an old Victorian house:
“Lucas, male, affable, but develops a relationship with another young scavneger and will have a turn to show his dark side
Mason, male, a former soldier. When Val gets put in charge, Mason must choose between his loyalty to Ezra and the house.
Val, female, leader of the group.
Ezra, male, wants to take the house from Val.
Gracie, female, 18-25 (no other details on this character)”
But don’t expect a major change in focus to these new characters. Another leaker, ViewerAnon, claims that Ellie is as much a focus as she was in Part II. We suspect she’ll encounter these new characters and, judging by previous games, will arrive just in time to see everything go wrong with heartwrenching and supremely violent consequences.
The only fly in the ointment is that if these rumors are true, Part III is still some way away yet. ViewerAnon goes on to say that:
Part II began its motion capture sessions in 2017 with the game releasing in June 2020. If Part III works on a similar timeframe and begins production this year, we’re probably looking at a 2026 or 2027 release on PlayStation 5. Heck, by that point, the console will be approaching the end of its lifespan, so there’s an outside chance Part III may end up as a PlayStation 6 launch title.
For now, let’s just wait for some official announcement, but we can’t wait to see how Ellie’s story concludes.