After telling The Last of Us fans don't "bet on" a Part 3, Neil Druckmann says "so many stars have to align, I can't guarantee it" but he treats every game "like it could be my last"

Sorry, The Last of Us fans, director Neil Druckmann isn't walking back on his recent warning that we shouldn't count on Part 3 ever happening, as he states that for a new project to exist, "so many stars have to align, I can't guarantee it."

Speaking in a new interview with Etalk (below) at the premiere of The Last of Us TV show's second season, Druckmann is asked about his recent statement to Variety, when he told fans: "Don't bet on there being more of Last of Us. This could be it." Specifically, he's asked if he's had any change of heart and might be interested in expanding on the series in either game or TV form. While he doesn't give a direct yes or no answer, he makes it clear that he doesn't ever bet on there being a sequel for any of his works.

"Every game I make, every project I work on, I treat it like it could be my last," he explains. "So I just pour everything into it, I leave nothing on the table."

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Druckmann notes that this is how he treated the first Last of Us game, making sure it had a "definitive ending" since "I wasn't sure I could ever get to make a sequel." He recently made this same point in an interview with Game Informer, where he admitted that he "wasn't sure they would ever let me direct a game again," so he wanted to make sure that the "story could stand on its own."

Back to his chat with Etalk, he reiterates that it was the "same thing" with Uncharted 4, and "when I worked on Last of Us 2, I was like, 'I don't know if I'll ever get to do this again.' It had this definitive ending. That is the ending we're working towards. For there to be another one, another thing, another project, so many stars have to align, I can't guarantee it."

For now, Druckmann says his focus is on the current season of the game's TV adaptation before moving to the next season - "hopefully, if HBO renews us," he adds. Beyond that, he's also got Naughty Dog's latest game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, to work on – the sci-fi adventure doesn't have a release date just yet, but it was announced for PS5 at The Game Awards at the end of last year.

While Druckmann isn't offering any reassurance or hinting that he might change his mind on Part 3 in the future, there's still a tiny glimmer of hope for fans of the series, considering that he's apparently felt this same way multiple times before. He recently spoke about the fact that he doesn't have the "confidence" to plan for sequels, and yet, The Last of Us Part 2 is certainly a thing that exists. However, if in some huge change of plans it does one day happen, it doesn't seem like it will be any time soon.

If you're looking for more to play, be sure to check out our roundup of games like The Last of Us.