With San Diego Comic Con starting tomorrow, we’re about to see a surge in exciting geek news from all of our favorite fandoms. The week has already started out strong with the release of our first live action UNCHARTED adaptation; an absolutely stellar fan film directed by Allan Ungar. The short gave fans of franchise exactly what they have wanted for years by putting the Firefly star, Nathan Fillion, in the starring role as Nathan Drake. The film hit all of the beats that fans familiar with the games would want to see in a big screen adaptation. An archaeology based mystery that would make Indiana Jones jealous, plenty of action (including a nice nod to the look of the game while playing through a firefight) and of course Drake’s trademark sense of humor in the face of danger, complete with plenty of quips.
The Uncharted property has been one of the most successful Playstation franchises in recent memory becoming an instant fan favorite after the first game was released in 2007, and while an official adaptation is supposedly on the way with Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy working with Spider-Man actor Tom Holland as a young Drake, that might not be exactly what fans are looking for. This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen Sony try to capitalize on the popularity of the games, however they’ve never managed to get off the ground, often due to scripts being stuck in the development phase.
Video game adaptations are notoriously difficult for Hollywood, so perhaps it might be best to use this fan film as a proof of concept, considering that it seems to be exactly what fans are looking for. Instead of adapting one of the games directly, or setting a younger version of Drake as the star, why not let the existing games serve as prequels in a sense. The fan film lets audiences know right at the beginning that it is not endorsed or produced by either Naughty Dog or Sony, but hopefully they’ll see the positive reaction from fans, and we might just get something more from this team in the future. If not, at least we’ll always be able to enjoy the short on Youtube.
What did you think about the Uncharted fan film?