The Last of Us Part III may not have been officially announced, but it somewhat feels like a given that it’s coming.

The franchise is a colossal success, even more so following the premiere of the HBO TV adaptation, and The Last of Us Part II did leave us with several loose threads.

Where did Ellie go when she left the farmhouse? What happened after Abby joined up with the Fireflies?

Earlier this year, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann finally opened up about a potential third instalment, teasing that one is indeed seemingly on the way.

“The first game had such a clean concept of like, the unconditional love a parent feels for their child,” Druckmann explained in Grounded II: The Making of The Last of Us Part II.

“The second one, once we landed on this idea of the pursuit of justice at any cost, justice for the ones you love, we felt like, ‘There’s a clean concept here and there’s a throughline from the first game, about love.’ If we never get to do it again, this is a fine ending point.”

On the possibility of a third entry, he continued, “I’ve been thinking about it, ‘Is there a concept there?’, and for years now, I haven’t been able to find that concept. But recently, that’s changed, and I don’t have a story, but I do have that concept that to me is as exciting as [Part] I, as exciting as [Part] II, is its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there’s probably one more chapter to this story.”

Well, Druckmann’s idea may have gained some traction as several pieces of leaked concept art have surfaced attached to a casting call – and all signs point towards The Last of Us Part III.

As reported by MP1ST, in May, insider DanielRPK shared that Sony was holding a casting call for a major upcoming PlayStation first-party title.

Jamie Bafus, senior manager of casting and talent at Sony PlayStation Studios Worldwide, was listed as the casting director with the call further adding that it was for an action-adventure game that features both violence of potential profanity.

It was described as a game likely to be rated M for Mature.

Auditions took place for two roles, a 40 to 60-year-old grey-haired man and a 20 to 60-year-old brunette woman.

Additional details have now emerged including two pieces of concept art displaying the two aforementioned characters.

Both their faces and clothing have been blanked out but you can see the characters’ hairstyles and perhaps more importantly, the art style of the images.

This concept art style screams Naughty Dog, anyone who’s ever enjoyed perusing existing The Last of Us concept images will concur.

Sony PlayStation Studios Worldwide (Via MP1ST)

Of course, this is speculation but it seems silly to discredit the stark similarities.

MP1ST further added that the casting call came just two days before Neil Druckmann opened up about Naughty Dog’s next game in a prominent interview.Until The Last of Us Part III is announced, we’ll have to take all of this with a pinch of salt but it’s a compelling theory to say the least.