04 July 2023 , 04:00
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Some details have come out about a potential casting call for The Last Of Us Part 3, which could spell some wild changes for the series.
The Last Of Us Part 3 has been heavily rumoured, but not much has been heard about the potential sequel. While Naughty Dog has apparently been struggling to get The Last Of Us Multiplayer off the ground internally, a leaked casting call has possibly spilled the beans on The Last of Us Part 3.
According to insider DanielRPK (via Reddit) the leaked info about The Last Of Us Part 3 is that "Part of the plot will be about a group scavengers surviving on the outskirts of post apocalyptic city, crammed into a Victorian house that serves as their base". Although another insider known as ViewerAnon claims that Ellie is "at last as important" in The Last of Us Part 3 as she was in The Last of Us Part 2.
Daniel RPK also has some details about who these new scavengers will be, claiming Naughty Dog are looking to cast the following roles:
Lucas – "male, affable, but develops a relationship with another young scavneger[sic] and will have a turn to show his dark side"
Abandoned prison which caged dangerous cartel killers found by urban explorer
Mason – "male, a former solider. When Val gets put in charge, Mason must choose between his loyalty to Ezra and the house"
Val – "female, leader of the group"
Ezra – "male, wants to take the house from Val"
Gracis – "female, 18-25 (no other details on this character)"
Like any leaked info it's best to take things with a grain of salt (one Reddit user in the thread claims that DanielRPK has had some "massive hits and some big misses" but would generally consider him to be reliable).
Left Behind
My instant reaction to this is that it's probably casting for the upcoming Factions multiplayer title, a dramatic shift to a brand new cast would make sense if it's for a spinoff title like Factions – especially with the victorian house base. Naughty Dog have already spoken about the standalone multiplayer project being more ambitious than the multiplayer from the first title, and adding narrative elements to it seems like a way to do that.
Spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2 after this point
My other reaction is a bit fearful, I'm going to pretend that this is all true and will be exactly what The Last of Us Part 3 is. This reeks of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead series, critically acclaimed first entry, divisive second entry that introduces a new group that meets their demise due to the actions of the protagonist. The Walking Dead Season 3 A New Frontier then went the complete opposite direction and followed a completely new group of survivors who subsequently run into the protagonist of the prior entries. A New Frontier was – to put it politely – awful, so to hear The Last of Us could be pulling the same move is scary. Obviously the quality of one game doesn't mean another game doing something similar will automatically be bad, but I don't think you can blame me on this front.
My final reaction is simply, why? I mean, the answer is the series is hugely successful and has a hugely successful TV show to go along with it. But many (including myself) feel like The Last of Us didn't need a sequel in the first place, and while the sequel was divisive to many, the ending of that (far too long) game culminates in a extremely fitting end for Ellie's character arc, which then brings the risk being ruined by bringing her back for another adventure. As always when I'm being sceptical, I would love to be proven wrong, but what I'm hearing so far doesn't inspire me with confidence.