The Last Of Us 2's themes might involve religion and "the choices that defined who we are"

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We've already discovered that The Last Of Us 2 was sort of shown to us in September via an, at the time, unrelated poster. Now we have an interview from July where Neil Druckmann might have been hinting at plot themes. 

Speaking with Southern California Public Radio, Druckmann talks about "this story I’m working on now" before outlining some very broad concepts. The interview was conducted in July of this year, meaning it was a couple of months after Uncharted was released and likely when Druckmann was devoting all his attention to an unannounced The Last Of Us 2. 

At one point in the interview, it was pointed out to Druckmann that his work had a recurring theme of revisiting the past or explaining why a character 'feels the way they do.' This was his answer: 

"I think about this story I’m working on now and it’s defintely there. I think a lot of times because I think about myself or other human beings and what are the events that have shaped us, what are the choices that have defined who we are and have lead us to this place? And I think it's also tied to human nature and human choice versus destiny, and this idea that, having grown up in, not a very religious home, but where religion was a big part of it, and this concept that everything happens for a reason. Even when horrible things happen, in our family or to friends, you would hear this statement, everything happens for a reason. Just wrestling with that concept. Is that true? Or is it just totally random?"   

All we really know about The Last of Us 2 currently is that it's set five years later and, according to Druckmann, is a story about "hate". We also have Ellie's line in the trailer of, "I'm going to find, and I'm going to kill, every last one of them." That certainly sounds like something horrible has happened. The interview suggests we could be seeing Ellie struggling to come to terms with a traumatic event, the choices she makes potentially having the power to define her future. There's certainly plenty of The Last Of Us 2 fan theories to argue over at the moment. 

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Leon Hurley
Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.