The image shows an old cannon on a wall overlooking a city by the sea. It would come across as a neat vacation photo if Escayg didn’t put the caption, “Research…” Research for what exactly? He didn’t say, but considering how much it lines up with Nathan Drake’s entire profile of gallivanting around, exploring ruins, and even dealing with pirates, what else but Uncharted?

A new title in the series wouldn’t be too surprising at this point. After all, Naughty Dog previously wrote that it has several “ambitious, brand new” single-player titles in the works (that “brand new” seemingly indicating that they’re not remakes). There’s also the rumor that Escayg has been working on an unannounced project for almost four years now, which may be the same that Druckmann is producing.

Could it be something out of left field, like, say, a new Jak and Daxter? Sure, but given that it’s been nearly a decade since Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – not to mention Escayg serving as co-director on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – you’d have to think that Drake is gearing up for a return. Hopefully, we’ll learn more later this year.

In a recent interview with the Lance E. Lee Podcast from Tokyo (transcription via Kotaku), the game’s former director, Vinit Agarwal, spoke out about how its cancellation and the disappointment he felt at learning it was being cancelled, especially after spending so much time on it.

“That was a devastating moment for me because I spent seven years working on that game, and it was soul-crushing. I remember honestly finding out that it was getting cancelled 24 hours before it was announced to the public. That’s how I found out about the game getting cancelled, and it was just unfortunate, and they had to do that because they have to control the messaging.”

Stating that it was “around 80% complete”, he seems to have empathy for Nought Dog’s decision to move in a safer direction with whatever Neil Druckmann was cooking up at the time.

“Basically, at one point, a decision had to be made. ‘Okay, make this game or make the next game that Neil Druckmann was directing, the president of the company…They had to pick the game that was kind of the bread and butter of the studio rather than this experimental game that I was working on that I believe was going to be really big, but unfortunately couldn’t see the light of day.”

Agarwal has since landed on his feet, founding a new studio and working on a title that seems to be making good use of all the lessons he learned during his time working on The Last of Us Online. While details are still under wraps, we’re hoping that those lessons bring some familiar elements, and perhaps even a dash of familiarity for what could have been.

This project would revolve around a man and a girl traveling through a broken America—essentially the plot of the original The Last of Us. What makes his post interesting is a mention of “the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”

“Cleaning out the garage today and stumbled on my original sketches from 2003 for a game pitch about a man, his surrogate daughter, and a trek across a broken America,” he wrote. “Been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”

It is worth noting that the concept art itself doesn’t really mean much anymore, especially since the design behind The Last of Us protagonists Joel and Ellie would see massive changes since 2003, thanks in large part to the advancements in console hardware made at the time. As for the franchise’s future, while Druckmann could simply be referring to the 2027-bound third season of HBO’s The Last of Us, the fact that he used the plural “few stops” indicates that there might be even more in the works.

While he has largely been quiet about the idea of a third The Last of Us game, Druckmann had revealed back in February 2024 that he had some ideas for a third part already in mind. At the time, he noted that he only had “a concept” for it, however, and didn’t have a full story that would fit that concept. Discussing the ending of the first two games, he questioned whether there was potential for more.

“If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point. That last bite of the apple, the story’s done,” he said. “The great thing about working at Naughty Dog is that we don’t have to. So it’s always like, we would love another Last of Us, but if you guys are passionate about something else, we’ll support this other thing. Very privileged position to be in. I never take that for granted.”

“I’ve been thinking about, ‘is there a concept there?’ And for now years, I haven’t been able to find that concept- but recently that’s changed. I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept, that, to me, is as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2, is its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”

More recently, Druckmann has been busy with Naughty Dog’s next major game—Intergalactic. While few concrete details about it have been revealed since its original announcement, Druckmann recently teased that we might see an actor from The Last of Us returning in the sci-fi game.

In his post, Howe said that he was in charge of creating a shot-for-shot recreation of one of the game’s early cutscenes as part of the pitch to show Sony what it would look like. He has also made it clear that the cutscene’s recreation was not commissioned by Sony, and the PlayStation maker had no involvement in the proposal. Further in the comments for his post, Howe also credits Sanzaru Games senior character artist Tyler Bronis for his work on the animated short.

“A long while back, a team was assembled to pitch a remaster of Jak & Daxter. I was asked to animate an IGC shot-for-shot, to show what this updated version would look like,” wrote Howe. “To be abundantly clear: this was NOT commissioned by Sony, nor did they have any involvement in our proposal — this was essentially a fan pitch to try and gain their permission.”

The cutscene’s recreation is quite an impressive one, seemingly making use of modern technologies to render things like the fur on Daxter’s body, and more modern implementations of things like particle effects, which were much harder to render on the original’s PS2 hardware.

In his own post about the project, Bronis revealed that the pitch was worked on back in 2019. His own involvement at the time revolved around remaking Jak’s model, along with environment art and lighting, and the camera work and editing.

The video has seen a positive response, with former Naughty Dog writer and narrative designer Josh Scherr commenting about how well it was pulled off. Scherr had worked on the Jak and Daxter games, and was an animator on this scene in particular.

“This is wild – I was the animator on the original scene way back in 2001,” wrote Scherr. “Y’all did a great job! On the original game each cinematics animator had to churn out 30 seconds of animation per week, so it’s nice to see it looking more polished.”

Currently, the Jak and Daxter series is essentially missing. The last time we got any official word on the franchise was back in 2021, with Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells confirming that a new Jak and Daxter game was not in the works. In a discussion with Insomniac’s Ted Price, Wells was asked whether Naughty Dog still gets requests for a new entry in the franchise.

“We do, in fact,” he replied. “We’ve had a couple of Twitter campaigns where people have been tweeting us every single day [saying] ‘I want a new Jak and Daxter, I want a new Jak and Daxter’, and they aren’t just simple 280-character tweets, they have Photoshopped memes and everything they’re including on a daily basis, and the effort has got to be significant.”

“And I hate to break it to them, [but] we do not have Jak and Daxter here in development right now.”

Dandridge has worked with Naughty Dog on many projects after she first played the role of Marlene in the original 2013 release of The Last of Us. We saw her reprising the role in The Last of Us Part 2, as well as HBO’s live-action adaptation. Outside of Naughty Dog’s projects, Dandridge has also worked on other major games, including the role of Alyx Vance in Half-Life 2 and its two episodic sequels.

Reports have indicated that Naughty Dog is quite far along in development, with one indicating that the company might be aiming to release the game in mid-2027. However, another report from December alleged that the project demanded weeks of mandatory overtime thanks to “several missed deadlines”. This overtime was reportedly an effort by Naughty Dog to “get the production back on track”, with “some teams” also having put in “long hours” to complete the game’s debut trailer.

Actor Tony Dalton, known for roles like Lalo Salamanca in Better Call Saul and Jack Duquesne in MCU projects, has also been confirmed to be playing a role in Intergalactic. In an interview from January, he discussed working with Druckmann on HBO’s The Last of Us, and how the two became friends, leading to his role in Intergalactic. Describing the process itself, Dalton said that portraying a video game character was “like nothing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“It’s crazy. It’s like nothing I’ve ever done in my life. These guys are top of the line. You put on these skin-tight suits with dots all over the place–all over your face and everything. They have a whole set. Huge, huge set. It’s amazing,” Dalton said.

Voice actor Troy Baker has also previously spoken about working on Druckmann, and revealed that they often butt heads with each other because of how passionate both of them are.

“We did two weeks ago, man. Neil and I will always, it’s our vibe,” said Baker in November. “We just love to butt up against each other. We were doing a table read, and I was literally like, ‘Why are you giving me s*** right now? I’m asking you a question!’ And everybody else is like, ‘Our mom and dad are fighting, are we still going to Disneyland?’ We’re fine. We’re fine!”

Intergalactic is being developed for PS5. Druckmann has referred to the project as being the “most ambitious,” “most expansive,” and “most expensive” Naughty Dog game yet. “We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders. I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it.”

Upon being asked if the upcoming season was going to be the last one for the series, Bloys hinted that “it certainly seemed that way,” but injected a bit of mystery by passing the buck on to the series’s showrunners. “On decisions like that, we will defer to the showrunners. So you can ask them.”

While the show’s second season focused on the first half of The Last of Us 2’s narrative, the third season will bring Abby to the center stage, focusing on her single-minded efforts to avenge her father.

No spoilers, but those of you who played the game already know how things pan out on that front. As for everyone else, they might be glad to know that you’re close to the curtain call on a live-action adaptation that has largely managed to capture the essence of its video game counterpart. Just don’t expect it to release anytime this year.

In an interview with Culture Wave Media, Dalton discussed having worked with director Neil Druckmann on The Last of Us adaptation, where he played Joel’s father, and how the latter expressed interest in continuing to work with the actor. This resulted in Dalton’s role in Intergalactic, which also happens to be the first time he will be in a game.

Describing the process, Dalton said it was “like nothing I’ve ever done in my life,” pointing out all the advanced technology used to capture his likeness and mannerisms through motion capture suits.

“It’s crazy. It’s like nothing I’ve ever done in my life. These guys are top of the line. You put on these skin-tight suits with dots all over the place–all over your face and everything. They have a whole set. Huge, huge set. It’s amazing,” Dalton said.

While what character Dalton will be portraying in Intergalactic is currently unknown, in the interview, he noted that Druckmann’s pitch referred to his character as being “one of the leads”. On working with Druckmann, Dalton said that he is “the sweetest guy in the world. He’s great.”

Voice actor Troy Baker had also previously spoken about working with Druckmann, and how the two often butt heads with each other because of the passion they feel for the project.

“We did two weeks ago, man. Neil and I will always, it’s our vibe,” said Baker in November. “We just love to butt up against each other. We were doing a table read, and I was literally like, ‘Why are you giving me s*** right now? I’m asking you a question!’ And everybody else is like, ‘Our mom and dad are fighting, are we still going to Disneyland?’ We’re fine. We’re fine!”

Little has been revealed about Intergalactic since it was first unveiled all the way back in 2024. Druckmann has, however, described it as being the studio’s “most ambitious” project so far.

“We’re making it, we’re playing it. We’re firing on all cylinders. I’ve said this before, but I really mean it, I’m really feeling it right now: It’s the most ambitious game we’ve ever made. It’s the most expansive game we’ve ever made, maybe the most expensive, by the time we finish it.”

While the studio has been largely quiet, reports have indicated it may be falling behind schedule. One noted that the development team has been working eight more hours each week since October. This overtime work is because the project has “several missed deadlines”, and the team is trying to “get the production back on track”.

A more recent report has indicated that Naughty Dog might be aiming for a mid-2027 release for Intergalactic on PS5.

“Target” is the keyword, though. Naughty Dog will reportedly outline its schedule for 2026 to staff after the holidays, and there are concerns about overtime worsening as development progresses. Given the studio’s history of crunch, the past several weeks, with employees logging an extra eight hours weekly, could be a sign of things to come.

The purported release window is interesting, however, given that Sony’s PS6 console (which includes a portable handheld) is also allegedly targeting 2027. If Intergalactic does launch in that time frame, it could be a repeat of 2020, where The Last of Us Part 2 arrived in June, months before the PS5’s launch.

This is apparently due to “several missed deadlines” and an effort to “get the production back on track.” It’s not the first time for Intergalactic either – “some teams” put in “long hours” to complete last year’s trailer.

For the past several weeks, however, the entire studio has been working overtime, putting in five days a week and apparently being asked to restrict total work time in that period to 60 hours. What about the team of producers created to deal with crunch? Many have reportedly left.

Mandated overtime recently ended for most staff this week and will return to three office days for the remainder of January. However, a “more detailed schedule” for next year is reportedly in the works, so plans could very well change.

Intergalactic is in development for PS5, and despite offering up several details, there’s been no indication of a release date. Schreier has previously reported that it won’t arrive next year, however.

“I’m hearing about people interacting with the game, and they’re also hiring for localization now. They’re getting into the end, and it’s a sign that everything is kinda locked down and content complete. I won’t be surprised if it’s out this time next year,” he said on a podcast with Dan Allen. Moriarty also believed that it would appear at The Game Awards 2025.

However, an appearance at the show and a potential release next year were simply speculation. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who previously reported that Intergalactic would not launch in 2026, reiterated this on Reddit. And no, it’s seemingly not on cards for The Game Awards, according to Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb on Twitter.

Plans could always change, but given the lack of any new gameplay or details from Naughty Dog, we can probably rule it out. On the bright side, Sony has a lot coming out in 2026, from Saros and Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls to Marvel’s Wovlerine, so any of those could appear instead.

The Game Awards is set for December 11th, and thus far, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is leading the charge in terms of nominations. It recently swept the Golden Joystick Awards, winning in six categories alongside the Ultimate Game of the Year.