A major plot point that could play into The Last of Us: Part 3 has been revealed by a former Naughty Dog developer.
Speaking via the podcast KiwiTalkz, ex-Naughty Dog lighting artist Gabriel Betancourt has discussed a surprising conversation he once had with franchise creator Neil Druckmann — who revealed that main character Ellie was just one of a “congregation” of people with immunity to the zombie-like cordyceps infection.
Ellie’s seemingly unique immunity plays a huge role in the first The Last of Us game, and particularly in its ending — where Joel is forced to choose between saving her or saving humanity. The impact of his decision then reverberates through The Last of Us Part 2, and is something Druckmann himself has added further context. Last year, Druckmann confirmed that a cure for humanity would definitely have been made, had Joel chosen differently — information that upended years of fan debate, and split the series’ fanbase anew.
Understandably, then, fans have reacted in surprise to this latest tidbit of information — which discusses Ellie being far less unique than she (or Joel) believed.
“I felt like the pillar of the story was Ellie being the only person with the cure,” Betancourt said. “And so protecting her, and making sure she got to where she needs to go to save humanity — because without the cure life is hopeless — that’s what created the gravity of that world. That was the context that made The Last of Us special.
“The gravitas of that is really centered around her being the only one [with a cure],” he continued, recalling a conversation he then had with Druckmann where the latter revealed that this really was not the case.
“Neil said ‘Yeah, but several people are immune. There’s a place, there’s a whole congregation of that kind of person, and what I want to do is to tel a more sophisticated story. I want to tell a story with multiple characters and kind of expand on that’.”
Of course, it should be stated that this conversation took place years ago (Betancourt departed Naughty Dog over a decade back, following work on The Last of Us: Left Behind), and Druckmann’s plans for the series may have changed. Still, fans have quickly begun debating what it might mean for the series — and whether we’ll eventually see this “congregation” one day.
“As happy as I am to sit back and let ND cook up whatever they want… I am vehemently against this,” The Last of Us fan suffywuffy wrote via reddit. “Part of what makes Joel’s [decision] so impactful in the game is that Ellie is that 1 in 7 billion messiah type figure. Having multiple immune people/a whole community drastically impacts the emotional stakes of the ending of P1.
“I already disliked what the show did when it shows how/why Ellie is immune,” they continued, “as she is now something that can be recreated by someone depraved/desperate enough.”
HBO’s The Last of Us TV series has given a reason for why Ellie is immune, though the circumstances are pretty unique. Here, it’s explained that Ellie received a small amount of the coryceps infection from her mother while still in the womb, though not enough to infect her. This has provided her just enough for the cordyceps to since treat her as already infected — and not reinfect her again.
This latest news comes just a week after Druckmann shared some of his first ever sketches for the characters that became Joel and Ellie — and suggested that the story of their world still wasn’t over.
“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,” Druckmann wrote. “Been a wild journey,” he continued. “Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead.”
Druckmann has never ruled out making a third chapter of the saga, and Naughty Dog’s official Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2 documentary even ends with Druckmann stating that he feels “there’s one more chapter to this story.” Ellie finally meeting with a “congregation” of other immune survivors feels like a chapter worth telling.
In the meantime, Naughty Dog is busy building Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which Druckmann is directing. The studio also has a second game in production that’s being directed by Shaun Escayg, who previously helmed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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