'The Last of Us 2' release date, rumors: Naughty Dog to start from scratch without Joel and Ellie?

Naughty Dog remains silent about "The Last of Us 2," but there are lots of talks about the highly-anticipated sequel.

With the single-player downloadable content (DLC) for "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" expected to be released next month, the developer can now give its full attention to "The Last of Us 2."

Naughty Dog creative dog Neil Druckmann has said before that after the single player DLC, they should be able to work full time on the sequel.

He also revealed that before he and co-director Bruce Straley worked on Nathan Drake's final adventure, they were already brainstorming stories for "The Last of Us 2."

They had prototypes that involve the original protagonists, Joel and Ellie although they also toyed with the idea of starting the game anew.

"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," Druckmann told GamesRadar last year.

"And just as we were getting close to settling or narrowing that list down, we were asked to work on Uncharted 4," he revealed.

This suggests that Druckmann and his team are prepared to make big changes in "The Last of Us 2" although some fans hope that there will be more of Joel and Ellie's story to be told.

Their situation in the original game has many gamers intrigued and hooked. Exploring their world instead of a creating a new one will be welcome to fans, but the fact that Naughty Dog is looking to start from scratch as well shows that they are not resting on their laurels and are willing to take risks.

If the rumors about the "Uncharted 4" DLC being released at the PlayStation Experience (PSX) 2016 on Dec. 3 to 4 in Anaheim, California are to be believed, Naughty Dog might already be preparing to work on "The Last of Us 2," if not started it already.