The next game from Sony developer Naughty Dog, best known for Uncharted and The Last of Us, will apparently feature voice actor Troy Baker, though it’s probably not The Last of Us 3 for obvious reasons which we’ll get into below. The studio hasn’t confirmed Baker’s involvement in its next untitled project yet, though the source reporting on this latest development seems to be credible.
As part of a long feature documenting Baker’s career, GQ reported that “he will return for Druckmann’s new project at Naughty Dog.” The magazine also quotes Neil Druckmann as saying, “In a heartbeat, I would always work with Troy.” In case you have yet to play The Last of Us Part II, we will be talking about spoilers from this point about the twists in the game.
The main reason why the next project that Troy Baker, who voiced Joel in the video game series, is probably not The Last of Us 3 is due to, well, Joel’s death in The Last of Us Part II. Unless the third game features flashbacks or visions of some kind that Ellie sees – possibly as a bit of post-stress after Joel’s demise – it’s safe to say that Joel won’t be returning. We said the same thing about Palpatine, so who really knows.
What we do know is that Naughty Dog has been quietly working on its next game since 2020. There’s a good chance that the studio’s next project is The Last of Us 3, though some interesting teasers left in The Last of Us Part I remake has us convinced that it’s a new IP instead. That seems more plausible, especially if you’re going to recruit Troy Baker again and not have him relegated to a flashback or vision character.
As with all rumours and reports, take this with a pinch of salt until we get confirmation from either Sony or Naughty Dog.
Source: GQ
