The Last of Us: Part 2 is about honoring Ellie , and Naughty Dog has made a point of implying she may be the only playable character. But in a new interview, Naughty Dog Vice President Neil Druckmann let slip that she'll have someone else along for the ride.

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"Well, so, Ellie used to be an NPC, but she’s the protagonist in this story, so the player is controlling Ellie. It’s safe to say with the game that we made in the past that there will be some NPC with you in this story, even though we’re not showing [the NPC] in this demo," Druckmann told Buzzfeed "And our general approach is to say, again, 'How do we treat them like people? How do we get them to behave honestly as those people? How do we give them interesting characteristics so that they can navigate the world, make meaningful actions, and surprise you in the way people do?'"In the 2013 original, players controlled Ellie's father-figure Joel for the majority of the game with Ellie serving as an NPC companion. For one extended segment, however, the roles reverse with Ellie becoming the playable character and Joel an NPC. Fans have been wondering what, if any, role Joel will play in the sequel since Naughty Dog announced it in December 2016. Druckmann teasing fans with an unnamed NPC will doubtless fuel further speculation about the character, whom Druckmann did not mention by name in the interview.Naughty Dog had to redesign The Last of Us' combat in order to make it a fit for Ellie. Meanwhile, Ellie's kiss in The Last of Us Part II's E3 2018 trailer may have been a step forward for diversity in video games, but the medium still has a long way to go when it comes to LGBTQ representation.The Last of Us Part II is coming exclusively to PlayStation 4 at an unknown release date.

Nick Santangelo is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He loves video games and sports, but not sports video games. Follow him on Twitter