Uncharted’s highly anticipated big-screen adaptation has languished in development limbo for far too long, it seems unlikely a full-length feature would ever get made. Sony’s long-gestating action-adventure began in 2008 as producer Avi Arad’s newest obsession; Arad, Marvel Entertainment’s then-chief creative officer, had just dropped the ball on three major superhero franchises (Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, Tim Story’s Fantastic Four, and Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider) and was looking to confect cinema’s next great adventure. Enter Uncharted, a modern-day Indiana Jones-esque world where treasure hunters, snappy quips, impressive Parkour, esoteric MacGuffins, street fighting, and black market dealings are the unspoken norm. Arad Productions acquired the rights to Uncharted in 2007, the same year Drake’s Fortune — the first entry in Naughty Dog’s bestselling franchise — was released on the PlayStation 3. Together with film veterans Charles Roven and Alex Gartner, Arad would commission one screenwriter and director duo after another, in the hopes of getting the movie going. It never did.
The last director to jump ship (Bumblebee’s Travis Knight) left only last month due to “scheduling conflicts” with Tom Holland, with the young actor seemingly ripe to follow. The Far From Home star is set to film the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third Spider-Man outing this summer, effectively pushing Uncharted further along the backburner. Aside from Holland, only two people have ever come close to playing Nathan Drake: Mark Wahlberg and Chris Pratt. Pratt declined the part, while Wahlberg was later cast as Holland’s Sully. Fan-favorite Nathan Fillion was never considered for the role, but got his chance in 2018, playing Drake opposite Stephen Lang in Canadian director Allan Ungar’s Uncharted fan film. The short movie, released on YouTube, was widely praised.
Sony Pictures is reportedly courting Ruben Fleischer (Venom, Zombieland) to take over directing duties. Other than that, the project remains as wobbly and unsteady as ever. At this point, it may be wiser to consider if a live-action adaptation of an already cinematic video game franchise was ever even necessary. Maybe some stories are best left alone. At the same time, protracted pre-production times are a staple of modern-day filmmaking; in fact, movies like Iron Man, Deadpool, The Lord of the Rings, and certain celebrity biopics have spent decades stagnating to obscurity before finally achieving success. Going in circles doesn’t necessarily indicate wrong or stale. Perhaps Uncharted is simply taking its time. Assuming the project can still be saved, where does Sony go from here? Where should it? What might the studio be doing wrong?
Sony’s Uncharted Movie Is Stuck In Development Hell
Uncharted’s perplexing history of development problems has played out almost like a soap opera gone wrong. Like every video game movie that came before, the project started out promising. Devil May Cry writer Kyle Ward was hired in 2007 to work the script, but stepped down a little over five months later. Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Conan the Barbarian) promptly replaced him, with Columbia Pictures at the helm, but dropped out two years later. The Fighter’s David O. Russell — whose idea it was to cast Wahlberg as the wisecracking Nathan Drake — was brought in to write and direct, but together with Wahlberg, ankled the film only a year later. The Illusionist’s Neil Burger signed on next, but — you guessed it — bowed out also a year later.
By 2018, Sony’s live-action Uncharted movie had tapped and lost 14 screenwriters and a little over 3 directors, including Designated Survivor’s David Guggenheim, The Blacklist’s Joe Carnahan, National Treasure: Book of Secrets's Marianne and Cormac Wibberley, The Hurt Locker's Mark Boal, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Rafe Judkins, and directors Seth Gordon (Baywatch) and Shawn Levy (Stranger Things). Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — who would later executive produce the highly successful The Boys — were offered the chance to write the screenplay, but reportedly declined. Nolan North (the voice of Nathan Drake) told GameNews on Oct. 2015 that fans may not want a live-action Uncharted at all. The idea was beginning to lose steam.
Levy’s inspired casting of up-and-coming Avengers star Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake certainly seemed to resuscitate the project, but it didn’t last. Shawn Levy stepped down soon after and made way for Black Mirror’s Dan Trachtenberg, another unquestionably inspired choice. The visionary behind 10 Cloverfield Lane managed a promising shortlist for the role of Drake’s mentor Victor “Sully” Sullivan — consisting of Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, Matthew McConaughey, and Woody Harrelson — before exiting less than 12 months later. The project has stalled since, with Sony Pictures forced to postpone release indefinitely.
What Uncharted Needs In Order To Get Made
The iteration of the Uncharted franchise currently planned for screen is supposed to be an original story featuring a much younger, and less worldly, Nathan Drake. Arad had initially opted for a live-action adaptation of the first Uncharted game, Drake’s Fortune, but Sony has since backpedaled on this idea, hoping to develop a prequel instead. Sully was brought in as a supporting character, but no word so far about anyone else, new or preexisting. Which begs the question — do Sony executives even know what story they’re planning to make? Did they ever? There hasn’t been any word about the plot, and despite promises of a completed script, hardly any indication a MacGuffin has been decided on. The screenplay has practically been reworked to death. Avi Arad’s Uncharted movie has never been entirely certain about three things: which characters are involved, and how old, and what saga of Drake’s life to chronicle; what part of history to fictionalize; and why anyone should care.
The problem with a prequel tale is, ironically enough, lack of originality. Naughty Dog has gone over Nate’s childhood and early-to-late adolescence before. Drake’s Deception chronicled the very first time Nate and Sully met in Cartagena, Colombia; Nathan was a teenager in search of Sir Francis Drake’s fabled ring. The Thief’s End introduced Nate’s long-lost brother Samuel Drake, and showed fans Nate and Sam’s childhood in a Catholic orphanage, their archaeological and gymnastic roots, and Sam’s supposed death at a Panamanian prison years later.
Naughty Dog promised ingenuity at every turn and succeeded; Uncharted has already "charted" it all, perhaps, except one: the period between Cartagena and the first St. Dismas idol. Why did Sam and Sully spend so long hating each other? What did Sully teach Nate that Sam hadn’t yet? What was the original Drake adventure? Cassandra Morgan, Nate’s mother, was a prolific historian, obsessed with the possibility that Sir Francis Drake may have biological descendants. As a result, the brothers rebranded themselves accordingly, as their way of starting over. The games have already covered Sir Francis’s celebrated career twice, but never quite the part about Drake’s purported descendants. The original obsession might’ve revolved around proving (or disproving) their mythical parentage. With the right crew, the film could easily expand this into a compelling 2-hour adventure.
Uncharted has already given us the ups and downs of the life of Nathan Drake. We saw him as a child, scrounging for purpose, and as an adult that just wouldn’t stop. We saw him live his final adventure, get married, and have a daughter, and carry on the legacy of his mom. But something the games, comics, and novels have never quite touched on is how the boy Nathan (still played by Holland) became the man Nate we’ve all grown up dreaming, quipping, and swinging across mountains with.
Naughty Dog has explored coming-of-age in the form of Drake’s transition from worldly thief to married man, and back, but never quite how young Nathan blossomed to maturity. Granted, Nate never really matured till cracking the mystery of Henry Avery, but if Sony wants to do Uncharted justice, showing how Drake originally metamorphosized to a life of adventure and piracy is a good way to start. Conversely, the movie could always do away with a young Nathan Drake and depict him at the height of his career, whichever works. That brief interim before baby Drake, Cassie, was born, when Nate and Elena were knocking every archaeological discovery out of the ballpark as D&F Fortunes, would also make a compelling story, as it’s a part of Drake’s life Naughty Dog ultimately decided to leave up to audience interpretation. A television miniseries might even serve the story better.
Is It Too Late For An Uncharted Movie?
Of course, that’s assuming fans are still interested in bringing Drake’s adventures to the silver screen. Is the market still there? Do fans even care? Have they ever? Uncharted’s big-screen feature has grappled for air longer than Nate has hunted for antiquities, that the project may well have already lost its momentum. Additionally, Nathan Drake’s story already ended with The Thief’s End, Naughty Dog having closed the book on the intrepid adventurer’s life a little over three years ago. Chloe Frazer, Nadine Ross, and the older Drake have since picked up where Nathan left off. Still, a live-action version is practically redundant. The series is already cinematic as it is. At this point, fans of the franchise would rather play another Uncharted game than see the series play out in theaters worldwide. It’s as Nolan North suggested. Has an Uncharted movie ever been relevant?
Maybe not. But Allan Ungar and Nathan Fillion’s success with their short film proves a market does in fact, still exist. Fans might still want a live-action adaptation, provided it was executed properly. If Sony can't get the Tom Holland version off the ground, it may not be the worst idea to give Ungar and Fillion a call and allow them to work their magic with more resources at their disposal. In fact, with Fillion pushing 50, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Tom Holland could still star as young Nate with Nathan Fillion reprising his role as the older version of the character. Allan Ungar's film is a solid proof of concept at a little over 14 minutes. Like Sam, Chloe, and Nadine, Sony may only need to pick up where Ungar and Naughty Dog left off to deliver a big-screen version of Uncharted finally worth making.