Before Tom Holland, There Was The Forgotten Nathan Fillion 'Uncharted'

Somehow resisting the urge to market it as a mutiversal story about Peter Parker meeting Dirk Diggler, Sony has finally released their long-gestating film adaptation of the Uncharted games this weekend. Starring as Globe-trotting adventurer Nathan Drake? Tom Holland, who presumably signed his Sony contract in blood.

We’re not here to disparage Holland, because he’s a genuinely good actor (and we're also afraid of rabid Spider-Man fans), but he does seem like an odd pick for the role. For a long time, the internet has been clamoring for Nathan Fillion to play Nathan Drake, not just due to his previous Nathan-named experience but also because he has the right look for the character and has proven himself as a charming leading man in other projects. 

The campaign to give this high-profile job to Nathan Fillion was, perhaps unsurprisingly, led by Nathan Fillion, who urged his Twitter followers to post on message boards supporting him for the role after it was announced that an Uncharted movie was being made by writer-director … David O. Russell? Really? 

While that production eventually fell apart after Russell turned in a script that was too “long” and “ambitious” Fillion did have the opportunity to finally plate Drake in 2018 with  UNCHARTED - Live Action Fan Film which was, well, an Uncharted live-action fan film. Directed by Allan Ungar, the 14-minute movie finds Drake being roughed up by a gang of thugs while in pursuit of some crazy treasure; you know the deal. 

While the action is conspicuously confined to a suburban McMansion, it’s still an impressively high-budgeted, stunt-filled short that really captures the vibe of the game, and gives us a good sense of how Fillion would have fared in an Uncharted feature. Another plus? You can watch it right now, for free, in the comfort of your own home.  

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Top Image: Sony/YouTube