Every game goes through many changes throughout its development, and The Last of Us 2 is not different. Regardless of the cut content, The Last of Us 2 ended up being a massive game filled with beautiful graphics, tense combat, and detailed characters. However, it is interesting to look at what scenes and ideas ended up not making the full game throughout development.
While The Last of Us 3 has not been confirmed, the success of the series so far makes a third entry seem very likely. There are many places The Last of Us 3 could go, and there are undoubtedly many more stories for the series to tell. However, there is some content cut from The Last of Us 2 that would be a perfect fit if it was included in The Last of Us 3. Of course, the new game will have a new story and characters, but the cut content would be easy enough to adapt to the new storyline of The Last of Us 3.
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One of the most heartfelt cutscenes in The Last of Us 2 is centered around a dance shared between Ellie and Dina. However, the dance they attended was originally much more fleshed out to help players grow more of a connection with the people of Jackson and Ellie's relationship with Dina. The section of the game was reportedly going to include a fully designed area that players could explore to interact with a number of characters. The section was also going to include a number of mini-games for players to enjoy like pretending to be a clicker while playing with kids. Of course, the scene was eventually cut, but it would have been a great way for The Last of Us 2 to explore even more of its story and characters.
It would also be great to see something like this return for The Last of Us 3. The Last of Us games can be extremely emotionally taxing to play through, and having a more light-hearted section of the game that allows players to relax and interact with the game's side characters could help mix up gameplay and keep it from being too somber. With how much The Last of Us fans love characters like Joel, having a more calm section of the game like this in The Last of Us 3 is great opportunity to hep fans fall in love with some of the new characters in the game.
Dina and Ellie's relationship plays a huge role in the story of The Last of Us 2, but it was a very tricky one for the developers to get just right. In the game, the two characters have known each other for years, but with the players just getting introduced to them early in the game, there is a lot of ground to cover without making it feel too expositional or boring. This led to a lot of scenes between the two characters getting cut, some even after they had already been entirely shot and animated by the team.
However, these scenes could be used for The Last of Us 3. The Last of Us 2 follows Ellie's journey to get revenge on Abby for the killing of Joel. However, after Ellie and Abby fight in The Last of Us 2 the game leaves players with a cliffhanger that seems to indicate Dina left Ellie with their child JJ because of Ellie's unending desire to for revenge. This likely indicates where The Last of Us 3 could go with Ellie's story, and the cut scenes from The Last of Us 2 would serve perfectly in the new game as flashbacks to flesh out their relationship.
Players getting small looks into the life that Ellie and Dina shared throughout the game would be a great way to keep them invested in the story, and would even make the entire trilogy stronger by giving more context for players who go back to play The Last of Us 2 afterward.
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The Last of Us 2 has players facing off against a group known as the Scars frequently, but there was an entire level cut that saw Ellie visiting their home island before it was destroyed. The level was reportedly pretty big and featured a number of unique interactions and encounters, but had to be cut to keep the pacing of the game more engaging. In the section, Ellie shipwrecked on the island during the storm, and had to navigate it to get back home in a way that was entirely different from other Scar encounters in The Last of Us 2.
However, the level would have helped humanize the Scars more than the game does in its current state by showing the members of the group as people just trying to survive with their families. It could have made all of the violence in the game even more difficult to stomach, but it also would have been a very interesting narrative moment. An idea similar to this would work perfectly in The Last of Us 3. The Last of Us 2 focused a lot on trying to humanize both sides of a conflict, and including a level similar to this in The Last of Us 3 would help take that theme to another level while exploring it further.
Of course, there is no way of knowing what enemy groups will make an appearance in The Last of Us 3, but the core idea would still work no matter what human group players face off against throughout the game. It would be a very interesting angle to approach the game from, even if The Last of Us 3 doesn't feature characters like Ellie as its main character and instead opts to introduce players to all-new characters. Hopefully, Naughty Dog will have some news for fans about what is in the future for The Last of Us soon.
The Last of Us 2 is available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
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