It has been almost two years since Naughty Dog dropped the Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet reveal at The Game Awards in December 2024, and in that time we’ve learned roughly as much about it as we know about what’s in a hot dog. A bounty hunter. A planet. A big red sword. That’s the list.

So when Neil Druckmann actually says something about it, we listen. And this week, he said a lot.

“Last stages of production”

Speaking at the Comic Creators Block Party 2026, per IGN, Druckmann said Intergalactic is moving into its “last stages of production.” The game is playable, and the team is now focused on “refining and polishing.”

That’s studio-speak, sure. But it’s the good kind of studio-speak. “Refining and polishing” is the phrase you use when the thing exists and runs, not when there’s a whiteboard and a dream.

The part that made us yell

Then he described what it actually is, and if you grew up on a PS2, brace yourself:

“We used to have another game franchise called Jak and Daxter,” Druckmann said. “And with this one, we really wanted to take everything we learned from that franchise, which is sci-fi fantasy, the action-adventure stuff we learned with Uncharted, the more kind of serious drama we got for The Last of Us, and it really is a combination of those three franchises.”

He added: “We wanted to expand our deep gameplay systems. Can we sustain the cinematic storytelling we’re used to doing and go even deeper with gameplay systems?”

Jak and Daxter energy. Uncharted action. Last of Us drama. Look, we are trying to stay calm and professional here, and we are failing. Jak fans have been eating crumbs for two decades. Somebody at Naughty Dog finally said the name out loud on purpose.

What we actually know

Not much, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. Intergalactic is an alternate-universe sci-fi story about a bounty hunter stranded on a distant planet in the far future. That’s Jordan A. Mun, played by Tati Gabrielle. Her bounty targets are played by a lineup that includes Tony Dalton, Kumail Nanjiani and Ashley Scott, and Naughty Dog regular Troy Baker is in there too, because of course he is. Troy Baker is in everything. Troy Baker is probably in this article.

What we don’t have: a release date, a release window, or a real gameplay showing. Back in 2025, reports said it was still a couple of years out, and PlayStation and Naughty Dog haven’t narrowed that down officially. Druckmann has recently said the game will get a full unveiling sometime in the next 12 months. So, no, this isn’t coming out next week. Calm down. (We’re talking to ourselves.)

Why this matters

Naughty Dog’s last all-new game was The Last of Us Part II, back in 2020. Since then it’s been remasters, remakes, and a multiplayer Last of Us spinoff that got scrapped after years of work. For PlayStation’s most famous studio, that’s a long time between fresh ideas. Fans also widely believe a new Uncharted is cooking in the background, but that’s fan belief, not anything official.

Intergalactic is the studio’s first shot at a brand-new world in more than a decade. If Druckmann’s pitch is real, and it’s a game that plays as deep as it looks, this could be the one that makes us forgive every remaster.

Or it could be another two years of us staring at one piece of key art. Either way, rewatch the reveal trailer below and start practicing your patience. We sure as hell need to.

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Sources:
– IGN, Nov 12, 2026: https://in.ign.com/intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet/276819/intergalactic-the-heretic-prophet-in-last-stages-of-production-neil-druckmann-calls-it-a-mash-up-of
– Official key art: Naughty Dog website (naughtydog.com)
– Official trailer: PlayStation YouTube channel