In an interview with The Sun, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann hints that Uncharted 4: A Thief's End may end with the death of hero Nathan Drake.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is one of the most highly anticipated PS4 exclusives of 2016 for many people. The game promises to wrap up the franchise, and in an interview with The Sun, Neil Druckmann of Naughty Dog has hinted just how that will be accomplished: by killing off Nathan Drake.

Druckmann, the creative director at Naughty Dog, said that Drake is at the height of his popularity at this point, and so Naughty Dog wants to do right by the character by giving his story a fitting ending. While not outright saying that Nathan Drake will die at the end of Uncharted 4, Druckmann did say, "It will be really hard to do a sequel with Nathan Drake."

This isn't the first time that an untimely demise for Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4 has been teased. In fact, such a possibility has been brought up multiple times over the years, by both Naughty Dog and others that have worked on the game.

For example, Nathan Drake voice actor Nolan North suggested that Drake could die in Uncharted 4, and even went as far as to say that it would be the last game in the series. The game's subtitle "A Thief's End", also seems to suggest that Drake will die, and some of the Uncharted 4 trailers have had a very foreboding tone to them.

The death of Nathan Drake would be a monumental event in gaming history, as it is fairly rare to see the main protagonist of a video game series killed off. If anything, video game main characters almost never die, with some gaming icons appearing in new games for decades on end. Such a move would be a major twist in the game, so it seems odd that Naughty Dog and others have hinted at it so heavily.

It's possible that Naughty Dog is deliberately trying to throw people off. It would be strange for the company's creative director to be so upfront about the possibility of a main character dying, unless a swerve is planned, and Drake actually survives the events of Uncharted 4. Naughty Dog may be ready to move on from Uncharted, but there are many other ways to wrap up the story of Nathan Drake without killing him off, such as having him resolve to stop treasure hunting with his brother and return to his quiet life with Elena Fisher.

Whatever Naughty Dog ultimately decides to do to bring Drake's story to a fitting conclusion, fans won't have to wait all that much longer to find out. While Uncharted 4 was recently delayed yet again, this time it was only for another month, with the game finally set to launch this coming April. Here's hoping Naughty Dog surprises fans, and figures out some other way besides killing Drake to conclude the franchise.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is set to launch April 26th, exclusively for the PlayStation 4.

Source: IGN