The Last of Us Day 2026: What Naughty Dog and HBO Announced

Naughty Dog’s 2026 The Last of Us Day celebration includes a free animated PS5 Welcome Hub background and a slate of festivities scheduled for September 28. The date has special meaning in the series: September 26 marks the fictional Cordyceps outbreak that sets the story in motion. The studio has teased partnerships, a collaboration, digital surprises and a charity stream—but not a new-game announcement.347

What the free PS5 background shows

Naughty Dog described the background as the first The Last of Us-themed design for the PlayStation Welcome Hub. It brings together artwork from the first two games, featuring Ellie at different stages of her story, with animated birds and flashes of lightning.6813

To find it, open the PS5 Welcome Hub and look under Backgrounds > Games.6

What Naughty Dog has planned for September 28

The studio said its main celebration would take place Monday, September 28, with a partnership announcement, a collaboration, digital surprises and more. It also pointed fans to a No Return charity stream on Twitch.47

Those teasers don’t amount to a confirmed The Last of Us game reveal. Naughty Dog has said it is not done with the franchise and that projects are in the works, but it has not identified them as The Last of Us Part III. With Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet also in development, the studio’s comments leave the nature of any future Last of Us project open.212226

Neil Druckmann has separately said that he and Naughty Dog are not creatively involved in HBO’s third season.9

HBO’s Season 3 additions

HBO has cast John Goodman as Joey, Ian Alexander as Paco and Laura Bailey as Elizabeth. Joey and Paco are described as a friendly pair who call themselves the “Heroes of the Highway”; Elizabeth is one of the Seraphites’ leaders.310

Alexander and Bailey also appeared in The Last of Us Part II game: Alexander played Lev and Bailey voiced Abby. They are taking different roles in the HBO series.10