At this point I’m not sure if Sony’s Uncharted movie is ever actually going to see the light of day. The thing has languished in development hell for nearly a decade now.
When last we checked in on the project, it was being directed by Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Night at the Museum), with a script from Joe Carnahan. The latter seemed pretty confident that everyone at Sony and Naughty Dog (the Uncharted developer) was in love with the script.
However, Naughty Dog writer Neil Druckmann later revealed that no one at the studio had ever even seen Carnahan’s script, and said he wished Carnahan would stop implying the movie had Naughty Dog’s support. Not too encouraging.
In a move that’s sure to surprise no one, Sony has now hired 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg to helm the Uncharted film, after Shawn Levy left the project late last year due to scheduling conflicts.
It’s also been reported that the script has been re-written, yet again. This time by newcomers Jonathan Rosenberg and Mark Walker. Variety reports that the film will still star a young Nathan Drake, who is still set to be played by Tom Holland (the most recent Spider-Man).
While specific plot points are thin on the ground, it looks like the film will focus on the first meeting between young Nathan and Victor Sullivan, Nathan’s mentor and longtime friend who absolutely needs to be played by Tom Hank or I will riot.
While the early days of Nathan and Sully’s relationship were briefly alluded to in Uncharted 3 via flashbacks, it’d be interesting to see this played out in more detail on the big screen, rather than watch Sony try to adapt one of the existing games.
Trachtenberg previously directed the video game themed episode of Black Mirror, and even once directed a short film based on Portal. His appointment has also won the praise of Neil Druckmann, so that’s good enough for me.
The Uncharted movie is now apparently aiming to enter production this year, but I just don’t know anymore. There’s also a The Last of Us movie in development, but christ knows what’s going on with that.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.