Uncharted Director on How the Movie's Nathan Drake Differs From the Games

The Uncharted movie makes a few changes to characters and storylines gamers may know from the Uncharted franchise on PlayStation. The film, directed by Venom's Ruben Fleischer, takes a few different story pieces and launches them in one while also making the lead character Nathan Drake considerably younger for his first movie outing. Tom Holland's version of Nathan Drake had "free rein" to earn the actor's own stamp and Fleischer discussed the differences on ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast. 

"Well, Nathan Drake in the game is somebody who's been at this treasure hunting thing for a long time," Fleischer explained. "Whereas, our character, he's an unassuming bartender who has a love for history, but, other than that, really no experience out there in the world, fighting, shooting, jumping off of planes, all the things that he learns how to do. So, I think that the naiveté that Tom brings to the character is warranted because he's not this veteran guy. He's a guy who just yesterday was tending bar and then just got thrust into these extreme circumstances. So, what I love is that, for fans of the game, they get to see a different chapter in Nate's life and see how he would go through these experiences which would lead him to become the Nathan Drake that they know and love."

Holland echoed a similar sentiment when describing the differences between his version of Nathan Drake and that of the games. "Obviously, the differences are that he's younger," Holland said. "I think one of the traits that he has is he's very trustworthy, which ultimately is something that he definitely shouldn't be in the world of treasure hunting which isn't something that he is necessarily very, he's not very trustworthy in the games. But no, there are a lot of similarities but lots of differences."

With Uncharted largely serving as an origin story for Nathan Drake, Fleischer does have ideas for where a sequel could go. After all, there are four Uncharted games, not including spinoffs and add-ons. "I would say that it all depends on the audience, if they like this movie enough to want to see another one," Fleischer said. "Hopefully, we'll get to be lucky enough to make a sequel. But you can't help but... Through the process of making this and adding the movie, my mind wanders, and I start to imagine different adventures that Nate and Sully could go on. And as a fan of the games, there's characters I'd certainly love to meet that we have yet to. And other cool action set pieces that we can kind of borrow from, as well."

Are you excited to see Uncharted? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! Watch ComicBook.com's full Uncharted interview with Tom Holland on our official YouTube channel! For more Uncharted insights, check out this week's Phase Zero podcast episode for an extended interview with Uncharted director Ruben Fleischer. Uncharted hits theaters this weekend.