Uncharted, since it first arrived in 2007 from gaming studio Naughty Dog, has been one of the more popular first-person shooter games in the last two console generations. Across several titles for the Sony PlayStation 3 and 4 the game series, featuring globetrotting hero Nathan Drake, has sold more than 20 million copies in less than ten years.

Considering its popularity and the presence of an already iconic hero character, Uncharted has seemed like a natural all along for an action movie franchise. In fact, it’s been in development for awhile. At one point David O. Russell was attached to direct. Seth Gordon, in 2014, was set to direct the film but later departed. A release date of June 2017 was originally staked out and later cancelled. But now, it appears the film is moving forward, with a new director.

Shawn Levy, best known for directing the Night at the Museum series, will direct the Uncharted movie for Sony Pictures, and it’s being “fast-tracked,” Deadline reported Tuesday. Joe Carnahan, who had previously been reported to be working on a script for the film and had been mentioned as a possible director, remains involved as screenwriter, but Levy is now the director; Carnahan is set to concentrate his immediate directorial efforts on Bad Boys For Life, the long-awaited third film in the Bad Boys series.

Levy is a prolific director who, in addition to the three Night of the Museum movies also directed such Hollywood comedies Date Night, The Internship and This is Where I Leave You.  He is also an executive producer of the popular Netflix series Stranger Things, directed several episodes of the first season, and will maintain some involvement with the upcoming second season.

Uncharted seems like a natural for an action franchise, especially considering its action pedigree and the chance to stick a major star in the role of Nathan Drake. There’s no word on who that may be, although Chris Pratt, Mark Wahlberg and others have been rumored as under consideration for the part over the course of the long development.

As for Levy, while he’s made a few movies that have made a lot of money, with the exception of the 2011 flop Real Steel, he’s somewhat untested when it comes to major action films or, for that matter, any project that in any way resembles Uncharted. Whether he’s ultimately the right director remains to be seen.

Uncharted does not yet have a new release date, but stay tuned here for more information about when we may see it.

Source: Deadline