Naughty Dog has not released a new game in seven years. The silence has been filled with speculation, a brief trailer at The Game Awards 2024, and the occasional reassurance from studio head Neil Druckmann that the project is worth the wait. Now, one of the actors closest to the studio is saying what fans have been hoping to hear: the game is going to be extraordinary.
Troy Baker, best known for voicing Joel in The Last of Us series and also cast in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet himself, used an appearance at Ottawa Comiccon to heap praise on Naughty Dog’s upcoming sci-fi adventure. “You guys are going to have your minds blown,” he told the audience. “You are not ready. You are not ready. It’s so good.”
‘She Is the Spiritual Successor’
The centrepiece of Baker’s comments was his admiration for Tati Gabrielle, who plays the game’s protagonist Jordan A. Mun — a space-faring bounty hunter whose story Naughty Dog has kept largely under wraps since the initial reveal. Baker drew a direct line between Gabrielle’s casting and Ashley Johnson’s breakout role as Ellie in The Last of Us, suggesting Druckmann has a rare instinct for finding performers who elevate their material.
“I don’t know how Neil found two amazing actors. He found Ashley for Ellie, and he found Tati for Jordan. She is the spiritual successor. There is so much about Jordan and that game of Intergalactic that feels like… I feel Uncharted, I feel The Last of Us, I feel something new.” — Troy Baker, Ottawa Comiccon
That comparison carries weight. The Last of Us is widely regarded as one of the finest narrative achievements in gaming, and Johnson’s performance as Ellie was central to its emotional impact. Placing Gabrielle in that lineage — as a “spiritual successor” — sets an enormous expectation for what Intergalactic delivers as a character-driven experience.
Testing What Naughty Dog Can Do
Baker went further than simple hype when he described the game as “testing the bounds” of what the studio is capable of. It is a phrase that suggests Naughty Dog is pushing into unfamiliar territory — both technically and narratively. For a studio that defined the cinematic action-adventure with Uncharted and then reinvented the survival narrative with The Last of Us, raising the ceiling on its own ambitions is a significant claim.
What we know: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet was revealed at The Game Awards 2024. Performance capture wrapped in August 2026. Neil Druckmann has confirmed a full reveal in 2027, but no release date has been set. The game is a PlayStation 5 exclusive.
Druckmann himself has called Intergalactic the “most ambitious game” Naughty Dog has ever made. He stepped away from his role consulting on HBO’s The Last of Us series to focus entirely on the project’s development, a signal of how seriously the studio takes its first new intellectual property in over a decade.
Creating a new intellectual property is a rare move for a studio of Naughty Dog’s stature. The company has built its reputation on established franchises — Uncharted ran for four mainline games and a Lost Legacy spin-off before concluding, while The Last of Us has become a multimedia phenomenon spanning two games, an HBO series, and spin-off content. Launching an entirely new universe means building audience attachment from scratch, with no pre-existing fanbase to carry the early going.
That risk is precisely what makes Baker’s enthusiasm notable. He is not a disinterested party — he is literally in the game — but his track record with Naughty Dog gives his perspective credibility among the fanbase. When the actor who defined Joel Tessier speaks about a project with genuine excitement, the community listens.
When Will We See More?
The timeline remains frustratingly vague. Naughty Dog skipped the most recent PlayStation State of Play, leaving fans without even a brief appearance for the game. Druckmann confirmed in a blog post for The Last of Us Day that the studio will “fully reveal” Intergalactic in 2027, though he offered no release window alongside the promise.
Rumours suggest a second-half 2027 launch, and the completion of performance capture last month aligns with Naughty Dog’s historical pattern — The Last of Us Part 2 reached the same milestone roughly a year before its 2020 release. If the studio follows a similar trajectory, a more substantial showcase could arrive within months.
For now, Baker’s comments are the most concrete indication of what players can expect. Whether Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will redefine the studio’s identity or simply refine it remains to be seen — but the people inside the building believe they have something special on their hands.
