Naughty Dog Teases Two New The Last of Us Projects - and Intergalactic Gets Its Full Reveal in 2027

I'll be honest: I read the phrase "expand the canon of The Last of Us" twice before it sank in. Two new projects. In the world of Joel and Ellie. That's the kind of sentence that makes you put your coffee down.

The news came at the tail end of this year's The Last of Us Day, when Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann shared an update on the studio blog. He teased two new The Last of Us projects that will take the story beyond Part I and Part II. Both are in very early development, and he gave no titles, no platforms and no release windows - and, this is a big but, he didn't say whether either of them is actually a game.

So let's keep our feet on the ground. "Project" can mean a lot of things. It could be a game, sure. It could also be something off the console entirely - the series already lives on outside PlayStation, after all. Druckmann chose his words carefully, and I think we should read them just as carefully before we start dreaming up Part III.

Intergalactic finally has a date for its big moment

The more concrete bit of news is about the studio's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Druckmann says it will be "fully revealed" next year. That's it for timing, though - no release window, no platform talk beyond what we already assume, nothing to circle on the calendar except "2027, at some point."

Part of me wants more. We've had that gorgeous first look and then a lot of quiet, and waiting is hard when a studio this good is cooking something brand new. But another part of me is genuinely glad. A new IP from Naughty Dog is a rare thing, and I'd much rather they show it when it's ready than rush out a trailer to feed the hype machine.

Who is all this for? The Last of Us projects are obviously for the fans who've carried these characters around in their hearts for over a decade - I'm one of them, and I still think about certain scenes more than is probably healthy. Intergalactic feels like the bigger question mark, and honestly, that's what makes it exciting. A fresh world, no baggage, nobody quite sure what it'll feel like to play.

For now it's two mysteries and one promise. I'll take it - and I'll be refreshing that blog next year like everyone else.

Image: Dean Takahashi / CC BY-SA 4.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Naughty_Dog_headquarters_2016,_1.jpg