A new rumour has surfaced online suggesting that developer Naughty Dog is currently in the development stage of a sequel to their critically acclaimed 2013 PlayStation-exclusive survival horror IP, The Last of Us.
Former Naughty Dog employee Michael Knowland, who worked as the lead character artist on The Last of Us and the upcoming Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, updated his résumé on LinkedIn and, more importantly, revealed he had done “1 month [of] prototyping head sculpts” for The Last of Us 2.
According to a post made by NeoGAF user JuanLatino, Naughty Dog lead character artist Frank Tzeng has on his LinkedIn profile that he is in the progress of developing character models in Uncharted 4 and “Helping [to] develop an unannounced AAA game title.”
Knowland, who is now Avalanche Studios’ senior character artist on the upcoming open-world title Just Cause 3, joined a list of high-profile figures to have departed from Naughty Dog this year, which included lead artist Nate Wells, actor Todd Stashwick, Uncharted 4 director Justin Richmond and writer Amy Hennig.
Earlier this year, The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann had announced that Naughty Dog are currently working on two “brand-new experiences,” with one of those titles already confirmed as Uncharted 4.
Druckmann is still penning the script for Sam Raimi’s film adaptation of The Last of Us, and Maisie Williams, best known for her role Arya Stark on HBO’s Game of Thrones, recently revealed that she is adamant on securing the role of Ellie, the main ally of protagonist Joel in The Last of Us.