The ‘Uncharted’ Movie Defies God And Man By Wrapping Filming
TheUnchartedmovie was delayed so many times that we started to think it was never going to get made. Now, after beginning production in March,Unchartedhas wrapped filming, which means we’re one step closer to seeingTom Hollandas baby Nathan Drake andMark Wahlbergas poorly-cast Sully. TheRuben Fleischer-directed flick is meant to serve as a prequel to the popular game series.
Sic Parvis Magna. That’s a wrap on#UnchartedMovie.pic.twitter.com/0BmG5oHCsk
— Uncharted (@unchartedmovie)July 14, 2025
Over the summer,Forbeswriter Scott Mendelson wrote an excellent article about how Hollywood keeps making the same mistake when it comes to adapting popular IP. That is, rather than just give fans what they want – a proper adaptation! – producers keep making prequels. Scott’s latest example was for Disney’s already-forgottenArtemis Fouladaptation, but we’ve seen this trend again and again: a big-budget movie adapts a popular property, but the entire movie is spent setting up a sequel. And thesequel –which usually never even gets made because the first film underperforms – is the movie that’s going to be therealadaptation. Or, as Scott put it:
If you want to tell the origin, you still better make damn sure to give the audience the thing they came to see in the first movie. If you spend the entire running time setting up the familiar status quo with an “Okay folks, the pieces are in place, you’ll get the movie you wanted this time next time!” tease, you’ll fail every single time…Think Ridley Scott’sRobin Hood,which spent the entire 140-minute running time turning Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood into the outlaw we know and love. ThinkWarcraft, which was a feature-length prequel for the stories made popular in the video game series. Even Elizabeth Banks’Charlie’s Angelstakes the whole movie to induct a third member onto the team. It ends on a “here’s a bunch of adventures involving our title trio (Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska) which you didn’t get to see” montage. Not a single one of these films got a sequel.
Why am I bringing this up in a story aboutUnchartedwrapping production? Because it looks like theUnchartedmovie is doing the same. Exact. Thing. This won’t be an adaptation of the games that so many people love, oh no. Instead, it’s aprequelto the games, introducing us to a young Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) and a young Sully (Mark Wahlberg) as they begin their treasure-hunting adventures. And while I have no insider knowledge here, I’m 99.9% sure this movie is going to end with a set-up for a sequel that will be therealadaptation ofUnchartedthat everyone wanted to begin with. Call it a hunch.
