Why Nathan Fillion Was Never Cast As Drake In Uncharted

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While Tom Holland was cast as Nathan Drake in Sony Pictures' Uncharted, why was Nathan Fillion never cast as the iconic video game adventurer? Sony's film adaptation sat in various stages of development for years and finally hit theaters in February of 2022, and yet Fillion was never officially attached to the role despite being the top pick to play Drake across internet message boards and social media. It's led a number of people to wonder if there were a particular reason why Fillion (and others) were passed over for the role. The answer seems to be time.

Uncharted was in development since 2008, with a number of restarts and delays and a variety of directors, writers, and actors attached to play Nathan Drake. Around 2009, Nathan Fillion began a campaign announcing his interest in the role, gathering large amounts of support from fans of the video game series. The support was understandable, as it's incredibly easy to see Fillion's resemblance to Drake both in appearance and in personality after only a few minutes of playing the games. But other actors were soon attached to Uncharted, including notable names such as Chris Pratt and Mark Wahlberg, before Sony eventually settled on the film being a prequel to the games and cast Tom Holland as a younger Nathan Drake.

Related: Uncharted's Biggest Twist Will Be Its Perfect Sam Casting — Theory Explained

Despite never officially being attached to the project, at least not publicly, Nathan Fillion had to have been at least considered by Sony Pictures at some point in the incredibly long production process. Back in 2018, Fillion even starred in a popular Uncharted fan film production from director Allan Ungar as Drake, with Avatar's Stephen Lang as his partner/mentor, Victor