Uncharted Movie Doesn’t Have A Director But Starts Shooting Soon

A movie based on Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series has been in the works for more than a decade already, but now it seems the film is finally happening–for real this time.

Tom Holland, who will play a young Nathan Drake in the film, told IGN that he will start shooting the movie in about four weeks, which would be sometime in March. He said the stunt team has already begun planning the action sequences for the movie in Berlin, and there should be many bombastic sequences if the film is anything like the game series. This is all happening despite the fact that Sony has yet to confirm a director for the movie (more on that later).

Holland confirmed that some of the Uncharted movie will be filmed in Berlin, while he and co-star Mark Wahlberg (Sully) will travel the world to capture other scenes for the movie. The video game series also saw Drake and Sully globe-trotting.

The actor also said that a lot of the inspiration for the Uncharted movie was taken from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which Holland said he played and particularly enjoyed. However, the Uncharted movie will tell a new story that is not directly inspired by or adapted from any of the games. A section of Uncharted 3 played out in a flashback where you play as a young Nathan Drake who meets Sully for the first time.

Overall, Holland described the Uncharted movie as a “young, fresh take” on Drake.

“We didn’t get to meet [Drake] all that much when he was younger,” he said. “But it’s a pretty awesome movie. It’s global. We travel the world. We see some amazing place. And Mark Wahlberg and I are going to have a great summer together.”

Holland also shared an interesting story of how he became attached to the Uncharted movie in the first time. He said he was sitting down with Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman one time chatting about video games (you know, as you do), and Rothman said to Holland, “Why don’t you play Nathan Drake?” Holland said he didn’t need much convincing.

“I would do anything to play Nathan Drake. Please, that would be amazing,” Holland said he remembers saying to Rothman.

Sony has officially hired six directors for the Uncharted movie, and all of them have quit. Sony is now reportedly eyeing Zombieland and Venom director Ruben Fleischer for Uncharted. If shooting is indeed set to begin in March, we would expect Sony to officially confirm Fleischer as the director sooner rather than later.

If all goes to plan, the Uncharted movie will release in theatres on March 5, 2021. There is no word yet on a supporting cast for the film, but those details should come to light soon.

As for the Uncharted video game series, 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is the most recent entry in the series, following Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in 2016. No new games have been announced, and developer Naughty Dog’s next release is The Last of Us: Part II, which is due for release in May. Even though Naughty Dog is finished with the Uncharted series and Nathan Drake’s story is over, the developer says a different studio could come in to make Uncharted 5.