As the main character and protagonist of the original The Last of Us, Joel is both an important and beloved character to the franchise. For this reason, his early death in The Last of Us 2 was all the more shocking. Although no one is expecting the character to be revived in any way, it’s still possible that he could play a role in a potential The Last of Us 3. If Naughty Dog wants to keep using this character, there a few ways that it could achieve this, potentially appeasing fans that were sorry to see him go.
The Last of Us 2 left most of the characters from the original game in shambles. Ellie is alone after being left by Dina, Tommy is permanently crippled and even lost an eye, and Joel is dead. There aren’t many places that Ellie’s story can go still, so it would seem, but the same can’t be said about Abby and Lev. These two still have many potential adventures ahead of them, and would likely be the focus of a direct sequel. That said, a direct sequel isn’t the only option that Naughty Dog has when creating another game in The Last of Us‘ universe.
The first potential time period that Naughty Dog could draw on for another game would be the 20 years between Outbreak Day and the start of the first game. Joel and Tommy are implied to have done some gnarly things in the name of survival working with the Hunters before they split up. After that, Tommy spends some time with the Fireflies and Joel eventually ends up working together with Tess. In this scenario, Joel and Tommy would likely be the main characters, allowing players to see more of their history leading up to when fans finally met them in the original game.
All things considered, this seems like a highly unlikely option given where the story is going. The first The Last of Us was about the relationship between Ellie and Joel, while the second game instead opted to focus on revenge. This type of prequel would focus mostly on these characters doing whatever it takes to survive, and would likely only serve to paint both Joel and Tommy in an even more negative light. It seems far more likely that Naughty Dog will opt to move forward rather than going backwards through the timeline.
That said, there’s also a lot of potential for a story to take place between the events of the first and second game. From Joel and Ellie’s perspective, this would likely involve the two getting settled in Jackson. There would no doubt be a ton of work to do in order to get Jackson fully established and made safe, and who’s to say what other things went down in the time skip between the games. Once again, this would make Joel a more prominent character, but there isn’t a lot to go off of in terms of story.
What would perhaps make a more interesting twist here would be to see what Abby and the rest of her group were up to during this time. Perhaps players could see her discover what happened at the Firefly base and then spend the next five years tracking down Joel. Though he wouldn’t be a playable character in this scenario, he would be an important aspect of the story as Abby retraces his steps from the first game and eventually tracks him down to Jackson. This would also serve to provide more context to Abby as a character and her motives, making her actions in The Last of Us 2 more relatable.
If The Last of Us 3 takes the more standard route of being a direct sequel to The Last of Us 2, the only way that Joel could possibly show up in game is through flashbacks. There were already several of these in The Last of Us 2, with them accounting for some of the best moments in that game, so a sequel could do the same thing. If the story continues with Ellie as the lead, then they’d obviously be flashbacks from her point of view, but they could also work with Abby.
As Abby tries to find the Fireflies and regroup with them, she may start to see the way killing Joel has changed the lives of those around her. As a character, she rarely feels remorse for this and other actions, so this would help to humanize her. Since the ultimate goal of the Fireflies is to make a cure, this might inevitably lead her back to Ellie. On her hunt for humanity’s last hope, she could find traces of the two spending time together and realize what she’s done, making her ultimate decision to sacrifice Ellie even harder.
The final option that would no doubt disappoint many Joel fans out there is that he doesn’t show up at all in the next game. If The Last of Us 3 decides to focus entirely on Abby and moves past the phenomenon of Ellie’s immunity, there’d be little reason for Abby to ever reminisce about Joel. She’d likely go on living her life and work with the Fireflies alongside Lev. In this case, Joel would hardly be mentioned, much less show up in flashbacks.
Among all of these options, it seems as though Joel showing up in flashbacks is the most likely. As mentioned above, Abby’s time with the Firefiles will almost certainly lead her back to Ellie, as she remains the key to curing this epidemic. Since the Fireflies failed to take Ellie by surprise, their only option at this point is to take her by force. Abby has shown in the past that she’s capable of going toe to toe with the Ellie, so there wouldn’t be anyone else better for the job. Traces of Joel and his effect on Ellie would almost certainly show up in this case.
The Last of Us 2 is available now on PS4.
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