Following voice actor Nolan North's confirmation that "The Last of Us 2" is happening, there are new reports claiming that Ellie could take over the franchise.
"I know they're doing a 'Last of Us 2' but my character in Last of Us kind of had an untimely demise," North said according to Game Rant
Upon talking to IGN community strategist Eric Monacelli, writer Josh Scherr and lead animator Eric Baldwin have apparenlty teased the second installment of the game while discussing the Nathan Drake collection.
"All the facial animation in the 'Uncharted' series was led up by Eric, here," Scherr explained of Eric's work on Nathan Drake. "And [on] the first 'The Last of Us.' Uh, did I say the first The Last of Us?"
Meanwhile, Movie Pilot has released an article suggesting their thoughts on which character should be the focus on "The Last of Us 2."
While this is not official, the publication reported that Ellie could fnally take over the franchise.
"If the sequel features the same characters and the same setting, most of us, if not all, don't want Joel to return, " it explained.
"Imagine an emotional scene where Joel dies in Ellie's arms, trying to save her from the Infected, maybe trying to kill a stage 5 Infected which got removed from the first game. After that, Ellie is all on her own, fighting for her survival. The game could feature many emotional scenes of Ellie remembering Joel," it added.
Additionally, Movie Pilot also suggested that having "The Last of Us 2" with completely new characters is also a possibility.
"Imagine a sequel to The Last Of Us featuring completely new characters and a whole new setting to explore, letting you explore other parts of the world during the breakout," it explained.
Cinema Blend on the other hand, suggested that the creators of "The Last of Us" would most likely introduce new lead characters following the story of Joel and Ellie.
"It's possible he won't want to compromise that ending with a sequel," the publication reported. "The development team at Naughty Dog might opt for a new story with never-before-seen characters instead."
While Naughty Dog has yet to officially announce "The Last of Us 2," Eurogamer is confident that the sequel to the post-apocalyptic game is definitely happening and the release date could come as surprise to gamers.
