'The Last Of Us 2' release date & rumors: creator Naughty Dog clarifies next project; puts 'Uncharted 4' on hold?

According to the report by Games Radar, it was revealed that just before Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley were asked to work on "Uncharted 4," they have been planning for "The Last of Us 2" which includes ideas and new characters.

"The answer is—and this is totally honest, and I've said this in the past—that when Bruce (Straley) and I moved over to Uncharted 4, we were brainstorming ideas for The Last Of Us 2 with new characters; ideas for TLOU 2 with Joel and Ellie; ideas for a sci-fi game; ideas for a fantasy game, and building prototypes for each one of those ideas," said Druckmann.

According to the report, Nolan North, the voice actor of "Uncharted" hero Nathan Drake, previously mentioned and started the gossip that Naughty Dog is doing "The Last of Us 2."

"I know they're doing a Last of Us 2 but my character in Last of Us kind of had an untimely demise," Nolan said during the Q&A panel of this year's Metrocon, according to the video by IGN. He referred to David, his character in "The Last of Us" who died.

Druckmann was surprised when he heard North speak about "The Last of Us 2" but they both joked about it thereafter. However, he added that "North was kind of right" that they were doing stuff for the sequel.

"So, I guess he (North) was kind of right in that we were working on stuff, but we don't know what we're doing next and we won't know until probably a few months after we finish Uncharted 4," he said.

During a live stream event for "Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection" last Sept. 13, writer Josh Scherr accidentally outed the "The Last of Us 2" according to the report by Tech Times.

"All the facial animation for the entire series was led up by Eric here... and all the facial animations in the Uncharted games... and the first The Last of Us," Scherr said and followed it by: "Did I say the first of Last of Us?"

"The first of the Last of Us.. uhh.. The Last of Us... The first Last of Us," he continued to mumble. Beside him, lead animator Eric Baldwin was smiling through the whole thing.

In the same report, it seems the development of the highly anticipated sequel will begin late this year or early 2016.

As for "Uncharted 4," another report by Tech Times states that the multiplayer beta for "A Thief's End" will launch from Dec. 4 to Dec. 13 and it will be officially release on March 18, 2016. "Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection" will be released on Oct. 9.