The Last of Us Part 3: What Naughty Dog Has Confirmed

Naughty Dog's sign-off for The Last of Us Day this year was built around two questions the studio says fans keep asking, and the first was whether there will be more Last of Us stories or not. Neil Druckmann's answer, posted on September 28, 2026, was yes, two of them. The words he did not use were "Part III", and if you are waiting for a game, that gap is most of the news.

This is what is on the record as of October 10, 2026: what the studio announced, what it left out, the three years of contradictory signals that came before it, and where HBO's third season fits. It covers the studio and the series, not the plot, so there are no story spoilers here. For how Part II actually ends, read our Part II ending explained first.

What Naughty Dog announced on September 28

Druckmann's post on naughtydog.com, the one whose header image is at the top of this page, made three points:

• Two new Last of Us projects exist. He said both are in very early stages, that the studio can't say much about them yet, and that both will "expand the canon of The Last of Us beyond Part I and Part II." He added that Naughty Dog would only return to this world if it had something meaningful to say.
• Intergalactic comes first. He said Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is shaping up to be the studio's most ambitious game yet, said Naughty Dog would stay quiet for the rest of 2026, and said the game gets its full reveal in 2027.
• The charity total. The studio's AbleGamers stream that day had raised $11,000 and counting when he wrote the post.

He also dated the studio's talk of more stories to Grounded II, the 2024 documentary about making Part II. That link matters, and the timeline below explains why.

Naughty Dog's separate round-up from the same day covered the rest of The Last of Us Day 2026, and none of it was new canon. There was a No Return charity stream with blind accessibility professional Ross Minor, a Clicker-inspired armor for Ghost of Yōtei's Most Wanted mode scheduled for October 1, a limited Youtooz Bloody Clicker figure, new PlayStation and Steam avatars, and a Steam and Epic Games Store sale that ended on October 1. It also launched official The Last of Us accounts on Instagram, X and Facebook, which the studio says will be the first place to hear about future updates.

What the announcement does not say

Read the post closely and most of what a "Part 3 confirmed" headline would need is missing:

The key word is canon. Last of Us canon has already gone beyond the games. The Last of Us: American Dreams, a four-issue Dark Horse comic written by Druckmann and Faith Erin Hicks and published from April to July 2013, follows Ellie and Riley before the first game, and Dark Horse sold it as the official lead-in to the game. Two projects that expand the canon could be games, comics, a show or a mix of them.

My read: I would bet at least one of the two is a game, because the same post spends its other half on a game and Naughty Dog makes games. That is a guess. Nothing in the post confirms it.

Three years of mixed signals

The September post makes more sense set against what Druckmann and the studio said before it:

The March 2025 interview is the outlier, and the September 2026 post does not mention it. Instead it dates the studio's talk of more stories back to Grounded II, a year before that interview. If you took the Variety line as a cancellation, the studio's own blog now says more stories are in development. The caution has not gone anywhere, though. Both projects are still very early, and beyond saying they expand the canon, Naughty Dog gave no detail about either.

The two ideas Druckmann has already described

According to PC Gamer's report on the documentary, Druckmann described two unmade Last of Us ideas in Grounded II:

1. A concept for a third chapter. He said it was a concept rather than a story, as exciting to him as the first two games, with a thread running through all three.
2. A Tommy story. He said industry headlines claiming Naughty Dog had outlined Part III were wrong. The Tommy idea was always a small story and never a full title. It was shelved while the studio put fixing its production pipeline and work-life balance first. He said he still hoped it would be made, and that he did not know whether it would be a game or a show.

That is two announced projects and two ideas Druckmann has talked about in public. It is a tidy match, but it is my inference, not Naughty Dog's. The September post gives no detail that ties either project to either idea. If the Tommy story is one of them, his own comment that it could be a game or a show is a good reason not to assume both projects are games.

HBO's Season 3 is not Part 3

"The Last of Us 3" can mean the TV show's third season as well as a third game, so here is how the two differ:

• The show adapts the games' story. So far it has not gone past it. Variety reported in March 2025 that Craig Mazin and Druckmann had always planned to split Part II across more than one season, and Mazin said then that the show had one or two more seasons in it. Druckmann's July 2025 statement described the first two seasons as adapting Part I and continuing the adaptation of Part II.
• Druckmann is off the creative side. He stepped away from creative work on the show in July 2025 to focus on Naughty Dog. Mazin is the sole showrunner for Season 3.
• Season 3 is still working through Part II. Variety's September 26, 2026 casting report adds John Goodman as Joey. It also adds two Part II performers in new roles: Ian Alexander, who played Lev, as Paco, and Laura Bailey, who played Abby, as Elizabeth, a Seraphite leader. The Seraphites are a Seattle faction covered in our Part II enemies guide. Variety says the show is expected back on HBO next year, in what may be its final season.

The show's third season and a third game are separate things on separate timelines.

Expect quiet until 2027

The clearest thing in the post is the studio's own warning: quiet for the rest of 2026, then the full reveal of Intergalactic in 2027. If Naughty Dog keeps to that, it will not reveal anything Last of Us before 2027.

For a sense of how long very early can last at this studio: Naughty Dog says it has been working on Intergalactic since 2020. It announced the game in December 2024, and the full reveal is only now set for 2027. That is not a forecast for either Last of Us project, just one Naughty Dog timeline on the record to compare against.

To hear about the next update first, follow naughtydog.com and the new official The Last of Us accounts. If you want something to play in the meantime, Part II Remastered's No Return and Chronological mode are two of the modes Remastered added for replaying what already exists, and the versions guide covers which edition to buy.

Quick Recap

• As of October 10, 2026, Naughty Dog has not announced The Last of Us Part III.
• On September 28, 2026, Neil Druckmann confirmed two very early Last of Us projects that will expand the canon beyond Part I and Part II.
• Naughty Dog has not said whether they are games, and has given no titles, characters, platforms or dates.
• The studio says it will stay quiet for the rest of 2026. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet gets its full reveal in 2027.
• In Grounded II (February 2024), Druckmann described a concept for a third chapter and a small, shelved Tommy story that he said could be a game or a show. Neither has been confirmed as one of the new projects.
• In March 2025, Druckmann told Variety not to bet on more Last of Us. The September 2026 post is the more recent word.
• HBO's Season 3 is still adapting Part II, with Craig Mazin as sole showrunner. Variety expects it next year.

The full story so far is in our The Last of Us ending explained and Part II ending explained, the rest of our coverage is on the The Last of Us coverage hub, and everything else is on the Mythras blog.