Naughty Dog‘s Neil Druckmann has revealed that the studio had originally planned a The Last of Us prequel featuring Ellie’s mother, a character that was only briefly featured in the video games but expanded on in HBO’s TV adaptation.
Speaking on the Kinda Funny Podcast, Druckmann revealed that the game was going to be worked on by another studio, although the idea didn’t pan out in the end.
There was a more full version of this story that went more back in time, that was going to be made into a video game. Not by Naughty Dog, but a different game studio.[Kinda Funny’s] Greg Miller introduced me to that studio, we had talked to them for quite a while to do this thing and then it didn’t quite work out.
As previously reported, Druckmann revealed in the same interview that Naughty Dog has already decided on its next major project, and while he wouldn’t say what it is, he did acknowledge that fans are eager for The Last of Us Part 3.
While on the subject of a third instalment in the post-apocalyptic franchise, it has been reported that Naughty Dog is actually working on The Last of Us Part 3, but this is only a rumor.
HBO’s The Last of Us recently wrapped up its debut season, although a second season is in production and that will act as a partial adaptation of The Last of Us Part 2. We say partial, because showrunner Craig Mazin confirmed it will take at least one whole season to depict the events of the second game.
[Source – Kinda Funny Spoilercast]