We’re just a few months away from The Last of Us 2 and fans are getting pretty hype about this upcoming PS4 release. However, there’s something that isn’t going to be coming out, and that’s a The Last of Us 2 cartoon that was reportedly canceled. Fortunately, someone managed to snag some images.
ResetEra has highlighted an article from Nerd4Life which has some images purported to be from the content creation agency Oddfellows. In these images, we see what are undeniably depictions of the main characters from The Last Of Us in various different art styles. That was, in fact, one of the highlights of what would have been a 20-minute animation: the art changes in varying ways as it goes on.
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Thankfully, the Internet never forgets. The Web Archive has an older version of the Oddfellows website preserved and it shows the now-removed images from The Last of Us 2 cartoon as part of the site. Here’s what the description said:
In anticipation of The Last of Us II, we were asked to create a compelling animated short depicting the main characters Joel and Ellie as they retell their dramatic story chronicled in the original game. This emotional “Previously On” would be engaging for both newcomers and loyal fans — a twenty minute short film that brings the masses up to speed on the story of The Last of Us. Highlighting the drama, tone, and strength of the characters and story, the film would serve as a strong bridge to The Last of Us Part II.
There’s a link to a subsequent page showing off some more stills from this canceled animation, but that one wasn’t preserved by the Internet Archive (or any other archival service as far as I can tell).
The description of this The Last of Us 2 cartoon is in the past tense; while it doesn’t explicitly say that it was canceled by Sony, the fact that it was shown on their website and written about as if it were in the past implies that it was canceled. We can’t say why Sony would cancel a project that looked so darn cool; maybe something can still be made of what looks like an interesting take on the universe. In the meantime, you can look forward to The Last of Us 2 when it launches on PS4 on May 29, 2020.
