The official trailer for the Uncharted movie has finally released, giving fans of the video games a look at Tom Holland’s Nathan Drake, Mark Wahlberg’s Victor Sullivan, and the globe-trotting adventure they embark on together. The Uncharted movie started development all the way back in 2008, but repeated delays and a shifting panel of writers, directors, and stars led to production being pushed back time and time again. Now, finally, Uncharted is making its way to theaters on February 18, 2022.
Based on the popular PlayStation video game series of the same name, Uncharted follows the story of Nathan Drake – a devil-may-care treasure seeker and history buff who frequently butts heads with mercenaries, dictators, and other shadowy characters in his quests to uncover the secrets of the ancient world. As in the games, Nate will be joined by friend and mentor Victor “Sully” Sullivan in Sony's Uncharted movie. The film is set prior to the events of the first Uncharted game, with Holland playing a younger version of Nathan Drake.
Sony has finally released the first official Uncharted movie trailer, and it shows a lot of the story and action that viewers can expect to see in February. There are plenty of classic characters, some fun wink-and-nod references, and a few scenes ripped straight out of the video games. Here are the biggest story reveals and Easter eggs from the first Uncharted trailer.
Nathan Drake And Chloe Explore An Ancient Crypt
The opening shot of the Uncharted movie trailer shows Holland’s Nathan Drake and Sophia Taylor Ali’s Chloe Frazer exploring what appears to be some kind of ancient temple or crypt. Holding torches aloft in classic Indiana Jones fashion, the duo uncovers a hidden map buried in the sand. Nate unravels it to analyze the discovery, but the trailer cuts away before he can reveal its significance. Given that Nate’s with Chloe at this point, it’s probably a scene from later on in the movie, And given what’s revealed later in the trailer about the plot, the map probably has something to do with the journeys of Ferdinand Magellan.
Nathan Drake And Sully Meet In New York
After the opening scene, the Uncharted movie trailer cuts to New York City, where Nathan Drake is shown working as a bartender at some kind of luxury lounge. It’s there that he meets Sully, and after a few lighthearted barbs thrown between the two, they seem to hit it off. This is a pretty severe retcon of how Nate and Sully meet in the Uncharted video games, which is shown in a flashback sequence in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. In that version of the story, Nate meets Sully when both of them are in Colombia trying to steal Sir Francis Drake’s Sic Parvis Magna ring. Because of the retcon, it seems safe to assume that the Uncharted movie isn’t in canon with the games, and that the events of Uncharted 3 don’t happen in this new timeline.
Nate’s Looking For The Treasure Of Ferdinand Magellan
Presumably sometime after Holland's Nathan Drake and Wahlberg's Sully become acquainted, the older treasure hunter appears to take his new friend back to his apartment, where Nate zeroes in on a map of Ferdinand Magellan’s travels. Drake and Sully describe Magellan’s haul as “the biggest treasure that’s never been found,” apparently worth at least $5 billion. In this scene, Nate also reveals that his older brother, Sam – another character from the video games – apparently disappeared while searching for this same treasure. That’s another retcon from the story of the games, significantly changing the timeline of Sam and Nathan Drake’s relationship.
Nate Reveals His Sic Parvis Magna Ring
Though the story of the Uncharted movie doesn’t seem to revolve around Sir Francis Drake – the noted Elizabethan pirate from whom Nate takes his surname – he’s still present in the background. A few shots clearly show Nate wearing Francis Drake’s ring, which reads “Sic Parvis Magna,” or “Greatness from Small Beginnings” when translated from Latin to English. The ring is a huge part of Nathan Drake’s character in the Uncharted video games, serving as both the symbol of his scrappy persona and playing into several of the games’ bigger storylines. As such, it’s great to see it appear so prominently in the Uncharted trailer.
Nathan Drake Pilots A Boat
A brief shot after the Francis Drake ring reveal shows Tom Holland's Nathan Drake piloting a boat by himself near what appear to be some uninhabited islands. The scene transitions directly into one of Nate swimming in a cave, which could be on one of the islands he’s going past in the boat. Most likely, the islands are where some of Magellan’s ships were last seen, and Nate journeys there in the hope of finding some sign of the treasure.
Nate Finds Some Abandoned Ships
Clearly, Nate and Sully’s search for Magellan’s lost treasure goes well, as the Uncharted movie trailer then shows Nate in a waterlogged cave, staring at a pair of abandoned ships. These aren’t necessarily Magellan’s, but an earlier shot of treasure being dumped out of a barrel indicates that Nate finds something worthwhile onboard. This could be a glimpse of the film’s final act, or it could just be one of the many stops along the way, as the Uncharted video games usually feature several exotic locations and big discoveries before the ultimate treasure is reached.
Uncharted’s Chloe Frazer Joins Nate And Sully
Chloe Frazer, a character first introduced in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, gets a proper introduction midway through the Uncharted movie trailer. She calls herself a friend of Sully’s, suggesting that they’ve worked together in the past, but it seems to be her first time meeting Nathan Drake. In the games, it’s never revealed when exactly Nate and Chloe first met, but it’s clear that they have a history together. It looks like the Uncharted movie may be trying to write some of that history.
Antonio Banderas’ Uncharted Villain Is Revealed
Every good Uncharted story needs a rich, over-the-top, cartoonish villain, and Antonio Banderas seems to be delivering just that with his as-yet-unnamed treasure hunter in the Tom Holland movie. Banderas is revealed at what appears to be an art show, but he quickly sees through Nate’s fancy disguise and threatens him, claiming that his own family has been searching for Magellan’s treasure for generations. It looks like Banderas’ villain will be a formidable foe for Nate and Sully.
Uncharted’s Villains Search For Treasure On An Island
As Banderas’ new Uncharted character discusses his family history, the trailer cuts to a different shot of his crew – led by Tati Gabrielle’s Braddock character – making landfall on an island. It looks like the same one Nate is seen going past in his boat earlier on in the trailer, suggesting that he’s barely a step ahead of the bad guys. And from the look of Braddock and her soldiers, he’ll have quite the fight waiting for him when they cross paths.
Sully And Nate Rob An Art Gallery
The art gallery where the Uncharted movie's Drake and Sully are shown meeting Banderas’ character is shown again later on in the Uncharted trailer, this time at night. Nate fights a group of guards, then leaps to and swings from the gallery’s massive chandelier in classic Uncharted video game fashion. Most likely, there’s an artifact in the gallery that holds a clue to the location of Magellan’s treasure, and Sully and Nate are trying to steal it to get a step ahead of the competition.
Chloe Goes Diving For Treasure
After the art gallery seen in the Uncharted movie trailer, Chloe is shown underwater in a split-second shot. In the scene, she’s dragging a bag of some sort behind her. It’s unclear if it’s something she found while diving, or if it’s supplies that she’s bringing to wherever she’s going. Another clip shows Nate diving into and almost drowning in some water of his own, but it's unclear if the two scenes are related.
Chloe Pulls A Gun On Someone
Chloe’s big underwater scene cuts to another shot of her, this time pointing a gun at someone off screen. She tells whoever it is that they don’t really know the people they’re working with, which could have one of several meanings. One is that Chloe is holding her gun on one of the Uncharted movie bad guys and is trying to convince them to abandon Banderas’ character. Another is that she is holding her gun on Nate, revealing a double-cross – something Chloe is famous for in the Uncharted video games.
Uncharted’s Bad Guys Suit Up For Battle
Banderas’ crew of Uncharted bad guys get another establishing shot in the trailer, where Braddock, a large Scottish man, and another intimidating soldier stand before a grounded cargo plane. Most of the Uncharted video games have featured groups of named henchman that Nathan Drake must fight repeatedly over the course of the story, and it looks like the Uncharted movie is no different. But with Holland’s Nathan Drake still learning the ropes of treasure hunting, he might be in a bit over his head.
Nathan Drake’s Brother Sam Leaves Him A Clue
After the art gallery scenes, Nate is heard talking again about his brother Sam, who he says left him a clue – either to his whereabouts or to the location of the treasure. The trailer shows a postcard from Sam addressed to Nate, which the younger brother holds a lighter up to in search of hidden writing. Sam seems to have run into some problems in the Uncharted movie, but what exactly happened to him is still a mystery. It should be fun to find out what happened to him when Uncharted releases.
Nate Unlocks An Ancient Puzzle
One of the most common elements of the Uncharted video games is the menagerie of ancient puzzles, doors, keys, and locks that Nate and his friends must solve and open in order to progress. The new Uncharted trailer features at least one such obstacle – a curious lock that Nate seems to open with some kind of key or knife. Whatever the thing being opened actually is, it appears to be boobytrapped, as some deadly darts fly out of the wall as soon as the key is turned.
Tom Holland's Nathan Drake Puts On His Uncharted Video Game Outfit
Finally, towards the end of the trailer for Holland’s Uncharted prequel, Nathan Drake puts on his classic video game outfit – the white Henley with the sleeves pushed up, the ring on a string around his neck, the over-the-shoulders holster, and of course, the handgun aimed and ready to fire. The Uncharted movie definitely seems to be going in a different direction with Nathan Drake’s overall personality – partially due to him being younger than he is in the games – so it’s nice to at least see his outfit return so fully intact. The outfit looks great in live action, even if the rest of Nate’s character seems notably altered.
Uncharted 3’s Cargo Plane Sequence Is In The Movie
The Uncharted movie trailer ends with a look at one of the movie’s big action set pieces, which also happens to be ripped straight out of Uncharted 3 with very little changed. In the scene, Nate stows away on a cargo plane being used by Banderas’ crew, only to be discovered and blown out the back of the aircraft midflight. Drake manages to save himself by grabbing onto some of the loose cargo, which flies out with him and trails behind the plane like a tail. Everything about the sequence, from the look of the cargo to the way in which Nate is ejected, is pulled directly from Uncharted 3, and the scene looks great in live action as well.
Nate Has A Fistfight On The Plane
Another staple of the Uncharted video games is Nathan Drake having to fist fight much larger and stronger foes in one-on-one combat. The new trailer includes a scene of just that, when Nate’s confronted by the Scottish henchman to Antonio Banderas’ movie villain while aboard the cargo plane. The thug tries to threaten Nate with some extended Scottish turns of phrase, but the young treasure seeker doesn’t understand his accent, leading to him being tossed hard into the side of the plane’s interior.
Sully Battles Antonio Banderas’ Soldiers In New York
Nathan Drake’s fight with the Scotsman is cut together with a totally separate fight involving Sully and Braddock at the end of the Uncharted movie trailer. This fight appears to be set in a pizza restaurant, meaning it likely takes place during the New York City portion of the film. Since Braddock is there, it’s possible that the entire art gallery sequence is set within NYC as well, which would make it Nate and Sully’s first real mission together.
Nathan Drake Delivers His Famous Punchline
The Uncharted trailer ends with one last, perfect Easter egg – Holland’s Nathan Drake dropping the character’s infamous catchphrase, “Oh crap.” After climbing back aboard the cargo plane, Nate sees Banderas’ car rolling toward him down the cargo bay. He lets out the perfectly timed “Oh crap” just milliseconds before being hit by the car and launched once again into the air below the plane. How he manages to survive may only be revealed when the Uncharted movie releases on February 18, 2022.
