Given all the excitement surrounding The Last of Us right now thanks to its uber-successful HBO adaptation, there’s been no shortage of questions lately about whether Naughty Dog plans on getting to work on a third mainline instalment in the series anytime soon. Whether or not that happens anytime soon remains to be seen, but should The Last of Us Part 3 get greenlit, actor Troy Baker – who portrayed deuteragonist Joel Miller in both games until now – would like to reprise his role.
Speaking recently on the Last of Pods podcast (via TheGameSpoof), when asked about a potential Part 3 and whether he would be interested in being involved in the project, Baker said that though he doesn’t yet know about when (or if) Naughty Dog will move ahead with the project, should it indeed get greenlit, he would “absolutely” want to come back as Joel.
“My whole thing is this, and people always ask, ‘Is there going to be a Last of Us Part 3?’ I have no idea. No idea,” Baker said. “I didn’t know there was going to be a Part 2. But if Neil [Druckmann, director and writer) has a story that he wants to tell, and he wants me to be a part of it in any way, I am there seven days a week and twice on Sunday. I absolutely would follow him, and I followed him to the gates of hell and back, and bought ice cream.”
For what it’s worth, there have been several indications that The Last of Us Part 3 could indeed be on the agenda for Naughty Dog. Co-president Neil Druckmann recently said that the studio would be open to making another sequel if it felt it had the right story to tell- and interestingly enough, he said nearly two years ago that an outline for Part 3 was already in place. Much more recently, Druckmann also said that he felt the series had “more story to tell”.
Leaks have also claimed that The Last of Us Part 3 has entered development, though Druckmann recently warned fans against putting too much stock in insider info, which may or may not have been in direct response to the aforementioned leak.
Meanwhile, Naughty Dog is currently also working on a standalone multiplayer The Last of Us game, which, according to the studio, is its most ambitious project ever.