Naughty Dog freaked out fans big time when its highly-touted action-survival role-playing game "Last of Us 2" was a no-show at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016 held last week in Los Angeles, California.

Prior to the E3 fanfare, fans were somehow led to think that the game studio would have a game reveal regarding the "Last of Us" sequel following the Easter egg discovery in the shooter video game "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End." Some fans theorized that the pregnant woman in the "American Daughters" poster may be Ellie and the Joel might have already died in the sequel. Gaming Bolt, on the other hand, speculated that the "Last of Us" Easter egg hinted of a possible prequel about Ellie's mother Anna.

Despite the game's disappointing non-appearance at the recent E3 2016, fans remain steadfast in their hope that "Last of Us 2" is currently in the works following Naughty Dog lead game designer Emilia Schartz's job post on Twitter, Master Herald reported.

The job ad on the game developer's website says that Naughty Dog is searching for qualified candidates for level designer position with the ability to incorporate strong emotional elements into the gameplay. Now that the developer has already completed "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" last month, fans see no reason why Naughty Dog should not jumpstart "The Last of Us 2" development. After all, game director and writer Neil Druckmann himself suggested that there is a "50/50" possibility that "The Last of Us 2" could happen as per Science World Report.

After the critically-acclaimed success of "Last of Us," Naughty Dog bears a tremendous pressure from fans to follow-up on the game's success with an equally captivating action-adventure survival horror sequel. So far, a number of plot speculations are making rounds online including a storyline where Joel gets killed and Ellie would have taken care of herself alone. Other reports suggest that Ellie's immunity to the virus will play a central role in the sequel's plot development.