Today brings Uncharted news, and you know what that means:
It's time, once again, to add to the official Uncharted Timeline.
(clears throat)
- Early 2008: development starts under producer Avi Arad and Sahara writers Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer.
- June 2009: The Uncharted movie is first announced to the public.
- October 2010: David O. Russell is set to write and direct the movie.
- November 2010: Mark Wahlberg cast as series protagonist Nathan Drake, angering fans, who near-universally want Drake's doppelganger Nathan Fillion; he claims Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci will co-star.
- May 2011: David O. Russell drops out.
- July 2011: Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless, Divergent) steps in for Russell.
- August 2012: Neil Burger drops out; Marianne and Cormac Wibberley (National Treasure) are assigned to do a rewrite.
- February 2014: Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) is hired to direct, from yet another script by David Guggenheim (Safe House). Production is set to begin in early 2015, with a June 2016 release date.
- November 2014: Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) is hired to write a movie called Uncharted; Chris Pratt is revealed to have turned the movie down, citing the proposed contract, which would hold him "until production finishes or the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first."
- April 2015: David Guggenheim's script leaks as part of the infamous Sony hack.
- June 2015: Seth Gordon quits over creative differences and "third degree development-hell burns".
- August 2015: Sony announces a new release date of June 30, 2017.
- July 2016: Joe Carnahan (The Grey, Smokin' Aces) hired to write a new script "to bring the pile to a nice round ten metres tall".
- September 2016: Uncharted vanishes from Sony's release schedule.
- October 2016: Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) hired to direct.
- January 2017: Carnahan's script is completed.
- May 2017: Spider-Man's Tom Holland becomes the latest choice for Nathan Drake - specifically, a young Nathan Drake.
- January 2018: Rafe Judkins (Agents of SHIELD) hired to perform a rewrite.
- July 2018: Fan favourite Nathan Fillion releases an Uncharted fan film, starring himself as Nathan Drake. It does not count as an Uncharted movie.
- December 2018: Shawn Levy quits, citing the need to "give the next sucker a turn spinning the wheels."
- August 2019: Dan Trachtenberg walks away from the Uncharted movie thanks to "creative differences".
- September 2019: Travis Knight is hired to direct the Uncharted movie.
- December 2019: Travis Knight leaves the Uncharted movie thanks to "scheduling difficulties".
- January 2020: Ruben Fleischer is rumored to be Sony's new top pick to direct the Uncharted movie.
- March 2020: Ruben Fleischer confirmed as the director of Uncharted; Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, and Tati Gabrielle also join the cast.
Yes, that's right: mere months after hearing that Zombieland: Double Tap's Ruben Fleischer was rumored to be the next director in Sony's long-running game of "Who Wants to Direct The Uncharted Movie?", that bit of news has been confirmed, alongside the news that Antonio Banderas (Pain & Glory; that gif everyone likes), Sophia Ali (Grey's Anatomy), and Tati Gabrielle (The 100) are joining the cast in unspecified roles.
Y'know, it kind of pains me to say this, but I think the BMD Uncharted Timeline (originally compiled, it must be said, by BMD Gaming Editor Andrew Todd) may be coming to an end. Oh, we've had some fun over the past however-many months, adding to it and watching it grow into the sprawling behemoth it is today - but this one feels different, doesn't it? This version of the Uncharted movie feels like it's actually gonna move forward. A few more production notices like this and we may have to retire the Timeline for good. Kinda bittersweet, when you think about it.
Anyway, that's the news. According to Variety, Uncharted will be in theaters March 5th, 2021. We'll see.