Uncharted 2 Movie - Will It Happen?

In the long history of video game movie adaptations, "Uncharted" is a fairly inoffensive example. Sure, it only has a 41% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, but it also has an 89% audience score. Dedicated fans of the "Uncharted" games (guilty) may have some issues with how certain characters are written and presented, but the film was clearly a crowd-pleaser with more casual fans or moviegoers who haven't played the games.

"Uncharted" was also a financial success, grossing over $400 million worldwide on a fairly modest production budget for a blockbuster action-adventure movie of just $120 million. And that was all in the near wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, mind you.

All of those points pretty directly to a sequel, but for a couple of years after the first film came out, there was little word on a follow-up. Then, in 2024, Sony Pictures announced that it was officially developing "Uncharted 2." However, while the movie is in development, it may be a couple of years before it actually makes it to theaters.

Here's what we know so far about the "Uncharted" sequel.

Sony confirmed work on "Uncharted 2" at CineEurope 2024, but it seems that discussions were happening long before that. "We had a really good time with that movie," producer Charles Roven told The Hollywood Reporter almost a year earlier in August 2023. "The fans really liked the movie, and people who didn't know anything about the game really liked the movie. So we are definitely looking to make another one of those." Then, in December of 2023, Mark Wahlberg told The Direct that "somebody's written a script, and they're still working on it."

It seems that all of that developmental work was productive. The first film was the inaugural project from PlayStation Productions, a division aimed at adapting different Sony gaming franchises for Film and television. Since "Uncharted," the studio has also been involved in films like "Until Dawn" and shows "The Last of Us" and "Twisted Metal," with more adaptations of games like "Ghost of Tsushima" and "Horizon Zero Dawn" on the way. It's unclear as of now when in that run of projects we can expect to see the "Uncharted" sequel.

While the film is confirmed to be in the works, there are a number of scheduling issues that may keep "Uncharted 2" away from actual production for a while. The biggest issue is Tom Holland himself, who has a pretty full docket right now.

"We're working on a script," producer Charles Roven told Deadline in December 2024, "but we're going to have to wait now for Chris Nolan's movie that Tom and Zendaya are doing." That would be "The Odyssey," which recently dropped a classic Nolan teaser trailer, though the film won't be arriving in theaters until July 17, 2026. "And then right after that, [Holland] and Zendaya are doing 'Spider-Man,'" Roven added.

The fourth MCU Spider-Man movie, subtitled "Brand New Day," which is also produced by Sony Pictures, is currently scheduled for a theatrical release on July 31, 2026 — just two weeks after the premiere of "The Odyssey." After that, however, Holland may have time in his busy schedule to start work on "Uncharted 2." That would put the film out sometime in 2027 at the earliest, though it's impossible to say for sure at this point.

Tom Holland is clearly coming back to reprise the role of fortune hunter Nathan Drake in "Uncharted 2," and Mark Wahlberg has also said that he'll be back as mentor figure Victor "Sully" Sullivan. And this time, if the post-credits scene from the first film is to be believed, he'll have the proper facial hair.

"I just got a call today that they got the script in," Wahlberg told Screen Rant back in February 2024. "I can't grow a real beard and mustache, but they said, 'Start growing your mustache. It's gonna take awhile.'" As far as story details go, though, the actor kept his mouth shut. "But I'm excited; I know audiences really loved the first one, so we'll see."

Of the other actors from the first film, the most likely to return would be Sophia Ali as Chloe Frazer. Chloe is a recurring character throughout the games, and throughout Nate's life in the canon, so while they meet for the first time in "Uncharted," it would make a lot of sense for her to come back.

We don't have any story details yet for "Uncharted 2," or whatever it ends up being called, but the video games can give us a decent idea of what sorts of adventures might be coming. The first movie was an original story that took certain ideas and set pieces from the games (namely the cargo plane sequence from "Uncharted 2: Drake's Deception") but mainly did its own thing. To make that make sense, the story was essentially a prequel, showing how Nate and Sully meet and their first adventure together.

That said, the backstory for the iconic duo is very different in the games, so the film version has already made some big changes. It remains to be seen if the next movie will take more direct narrative inspiration from the games — like including the quest for El Dorado from the original "Uncharted" or the search for Shambhala from "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves." My guess would be the same basic structure as the first movie, with a new story of a similar style that takes a couple of set-piece ideas from the source material.

Character-wise, franchise mainstay Elena Fisher (played by Emily Rose in the games) seems like a shoo-in. There's also room for other fan-favorite game characters like Eddy Raja, or Nate's older brother Sam, who plays a key role in the first movie but stays out of the picture (though he's played by Rudy Pankow in flashbacks).