Sony has spent more than ten years trying to get its Uncharted movie off the ground, resulting in numerous changes to its story, director, and cast. On paper, an Uncharted film seems pretty straightforward: the original video games by Naughty Dog are basically Indiana Jones-style adventures that follow Nathan Drake, descendant of explorer/slave trader Sir Francis Drake and a good-humored treasure hunter who spends his day uncovering historical myths and legends. At a time when both Indiana Jones and National Treasure's Benjamin Franklin Gates have been out of commission since the late '00s, there's an obvious niche for Nathan Drake to fill on the big screen.
Announced in 2008, the Uncharted movie has yet to actually begin production; it's taken so long, in fact, both Indiana Jones 5 and National Treasure 3 have entered active development in the time since producer Avi Arad and Sony revealed their intention to adapt the original games for live-action. Things haven't gotten any easier for the film of late, either. Earlier this year, Uncharted was all set to begin shooting under director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Venom), with Tom Holland playing a young Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg costarring as his mentor, Victor "Sully" Sullivan, in a story set before the events of the previously-released games. Then, on the first day of filming, the project was forced to shut-down in response to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Filming is now tentatively expected to begin very soon, with Holland having recently teased the start of production by posting a photo of his on-set chair for Uncharted. By this point, though, the movie has had so many problems getting off the ground fans would be forgiven for assuming it's not a real thing until they actually get to sit down and watch it. More than that, its issues all seem to come back to a fundamental difference in opinion over what the project should even be.
In its earliest iteration, the Uncharted movie was going to be directed by David O. Russell, with Wahlberg (fresh off his collaboration with Russell on The Fighter) playing Nathan Drake and Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci playing Nathan's dad and uncle in what Russell described as a movie about a "crime family that metes out justice in the world of arts and antiquities." As exciting as some found the idea of an Uncharted movie where the Drakes are a volatile family unit in the same vein as the characters from The Fighter, others balked at the premise, arguing it goes against the core concept of the franchise. It's hard to imagine Sony would've afforded Russell the same degree of creative freedom he's used to enjoying on his projects either, so it's not surprising that version of the movie never came to pass.
The film went through another five directors after that before landing on Fleischer this year. Details on why each one left haven't always been easy to come by, but in some cases the issue was (reportedly) logistical, like when Travis Knight dropped out at the end of 2019 due to a scheduling conflict. Nobody seems to completely agree about just how faithful the video game adaptation should be, so that too may've contributed to so many filmmakers coming and going over the last twelve years. Tone may've also been a point of disagreement: Drake is known for cracking jokes whenever his adventures take a turn for the ridiculous, so it makes sense that Sony turned to directors with experience making action-comedies (like Baywatch helmer Seth Gordon and Night at the Museum's Shawn Levy) at different points in the film's development. At the same time, they may've wanted to play things a little too broadly for Sony's preferences.
Even the idea of Uncharted as an origin story movie (an idea Holland pitched when he came aboard) is a source of contention. Hollywood isn't exactly hurting for origin story films and part of Nathan Drake's appeal in the Uncharted video games is the fact he's a seasoned adventurer who knows his way around, as opposed to a bright-eyed youngster who's still learning the tricks of the trade. No doubt Sony likes the idea of having a young actor is place who can lead an Uncharted franchise for many years to come, but it's anyone's guess whether the final version of the video game adaptation will be successful enough to launch a whole series (much less, prove to be worth all the hullabaloo it took to come together).