Naughty Dog has "ideas for The Last Of Us 2 with new characters"

It was only last week that Naughty Dog sent the internet into meltdown over the possibility of The Last Of Us 2 by saying the immortal words 'the first Last Of Us'. Now, in the brand new issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, The Last Of Us creative director Neil Druckmann sets things straight and it's pretty exciting.

Druckmann's reaction to Nolan North saying earlier in the year that there definitely was a sequel inbound for the post apocalyptic series was just like ours. Surprise. "I can say that was kind of a surprise for us for him to say that," he tells OPM. "I was like 'Oh he knows more than we know [about] what we're doing next.' We joked about it afterwards during shoots and stuff."

"The answer is - and this is totally honest, and I've said this in the past - that when Bruce (Straley) and I moved over to Uncharted 4, we were brainstorming ideas for The Last Of Us 2 with new characters; ideas for TLOU 2 with Joel and Ellie; ideas for a sci-fi game; ideas for a fantasy game, and building prototypes for each one of those ideas. And just as we were getting close to settling or narrowing that list down, we were asked to work on Uncharted 4." Gosh it's like being stuck between a really good rock and an excellent hard place, isn't it?

Druckmann goes on to explain that a small team had been working on those prototypes and then everyone moved over to Uncharted 4. "You know, there's a part of me that's really looking forward to going back to those things, but I have no cycles left in my mind even to be thinking about that right now!" he says. "So, I guess he (North) was kind of right in that we were working on stuff, but we don't know what we're doing next and we won't know until probably a few months after we finish Uncharted 4."

You can read the rest of the in depth interview with Neil Druckmann in OPM's massive Uncharted 4 feature. The new Official PlayStation Magazine celebrates 20 years of PlayStation and includes a celebratory look back at the last two decades of Sony goodness and has a very special secrets of PlayStation feature. It will be on shelves on Friday September 25th. Alternatively you can download ithereorsubscribeto future issues.

Louise Blain

Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in gaming, technology, and entertainment. She is the presenter of BBC Radio 3’s monthly Sound of Gaming show and has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland. She can also be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, Netflix UK's YouTube Channel, and on The Evolution of Horror podcast. As well as her work on GamesRadar, Louise writes for NME, T3, and TechRadar. When she’s not working, you can probably find her watching horror movies or playing an Assassin’s Creed game and getting distracted by Photo Mode.