Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland has been cast as Nathan Drake in Sony's upcoming Uncharted film, according to a report from Deadline. Holland will play a younger Drake than fans might expect, said to be inspired by the flashback sequences within 2016's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. The film will be directed by Shawn Levy, best known as the director of the Night at the Museum franchise. Uncharted currently has no announced release date.

Holland's casting was reportedly due to Sony Pictures executive Tom Rothman seeing parallels between the 20-year old actor and Nathan Drake while watching the latest cut of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Uncharted has remained a high-potential but trouble-prone project for Sony, who has held the film license for the video game franchise for several  years now.

Previous iterations of the Uncharted film have involved Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake, a Rated R script, and another script described as "similar to National Treasure." Exactly how many scripts and rounds of casting Uncharted has gone through is unknown, but while the project may have bad luck, that's never stopped Sony from working on it. The Last of Us is not so lucky.

Whether or not this version of the Uncharted film will be made remains to be seen, however. After all, a film of Uncharted's pedigree would require significant funding. And now that Tom Holland has been cast, production will have to deal with schedule such a large film around Holland's future projects. Considering Holland already has a second Spider-Man film and both Avengers: Infinity War films to make with Marvel in the near future, that task might not be so easy. No wonder he's not involved with Insomniac's Spider-Man game.

Nevertheless, progress is being made, and for fans of the Uncharted video game franchise that may make all the difference. A young Nathan Drake gives the audience an opportunity to see an actor grow into the role of one of gaming's most prolific modern video game protagonists. An origin story could integrate fans both old and new into, marking the start of a new take on Uncharted as the previous game comes to a close. It can't be worse than the first Uncharted game's story, right?

Stay tuned for more news on the Uncharted film, starring Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake, in the weeks and months to come.

Source: Deadline