From the highly rumored 2017 release, "The Last of Us 2" is now said to be out on 2018 instead as there's no light to be shed for a next year release.

The talk about the release of "The Last of Us 2" first solidified when Naughty Dog released their latest game "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" since the studio will be able to focus more on the production of the sequel.

One easter egg in "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" showed a pregnant woman who was wearing a mask and a gun while walking through the wasteland. Rumors pointed that the woman was none other than Ellie's mother, but others even suggest that it was Ellie herself.

Rumors from several news sites and communities speculated that "The Last of Us 2" will be the game where Joel will die and in the hands of Ellie herself. There may be spoilers ahead so please be sure to have finished the game first before pressing on.

Motives could only lead to the lie that Joel made on the end part of the first game in order to spare Ellie's life. Without the operation on Ellie, no vaccine will be made against the cordyceps, but doing so will cost her life too.

Based on the facts about the game and how the story unfolds, a sequel will be warranted if the cordyceps infestation will be eliminated through Ellie's operation as she was naturally immune to the infection. This was the Fireflies' very purpose to begin with.

Without Ellie, there would be no cure and thus removing her off the big picture will defeat the purpose of moving onwards in the story, unless there's another immune person like her. Killing Joel off may not impact the next story that much as his story or plot had been wrapped up in the first game.

Either way, no official word or comment from the publishers of "The Last of Us 2" were made. Still, seeing Ellie and Joel back in action and alive will already make a highly-anticipated sequel.