Uncharted 4 showed Nathan Drake as an aging adventurer, but the Uncharted film adaptation is going in the opposite direction with Tom Holland. Deadline Hollywood reports that the long-in-development Uncharted film will now be led by the youthful star of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the story is inspired by teenage Drake meeting Sully for the first time in Uncharted 3.
We saw an even younger Nate in Uncharted 4's flashback scenes, but those were used to establish his relationship with his (mysteriously unmentioned until now) older brother. When Uncharted 3 dipped into the past, it set up Nate's obsession with the travels of Sir Francis Drake and introduced the young thief to Victor Sullivan in his prime. They met at opposing sides of a museum heist but quickly established a treasure-hunting mentorship. Sounds like fine material for a film adaptation.
I was never excited about the idea of an Uncharted movie before now; the games are quite cinematic enough. But I have always wanted to see more of young Drake and Sully's adventures. Tom Holland has proven he can do the excitable jokester as Peter Parker, now we just need a Victor Sullivan with the right balance of suave charm and wisecracking wit. Maybe a young Elena too, if we don't care about mixing up the timeline. I am (tentatively) on board.
According to Deadline, Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy is still set to direct the Uncharted movie with this new angle but screenwriter Joe Carnahan (and presumably his R-rated Uncharted treatment) is out. If only Neil Druckmann wasn't so busy with The Last of Us Part 2 and Amy Hennig with that Visceral Star Wars game.
