Last week, Firefly and Castle actor Nathan Fillion posted a curious message on his Instagram page. The actor seemed to be hinting towards some sort of Uncharted-related announcement and fans begin to speculate. Was Fillion somehow involved in the next game in the hugely popular PS4 franchise? Or is he connected to the in-development Uncharted movie?

Fillion's teaser has now come to fruition, as an Uncharted short film has now been released online, starring the actor as Nathan Drake himself. Allan Ungar, who has worked as a writer on action movies Gridlocked and Tapped Out, served as the short film's writer and director. The flick is just under 15 minutes long and sees Nathan Drake try to make a trademark daring escape after he is kidnapped in the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.

Drake is suspected of having stolen an artifact of great value and the owner has sent his men to get it back from the famous adventurer and notorious thief. However, it's just a ruse and the famed video game character is using his kidnapping as part of his larger plan.

The film seems to have captured the same fantastic combo of action and humor as the Uncharted games themselves. While Nathan Drake is capable of holding his own, he throws punches and beats down enemies in between making wisecracks about their height and their bad hairstyles. In one wonderfully comical moment, he even rips the ponytail off of a man's head.

It's unsurprising then that fans of the Uncharted series have responded incredibly positively to the short film. Fans have been saying for some time that they would love Nathan Fillion to play Nathan Drake and many were disappointed when it seemed as though another actor would play the role in the official, Sony-produced flick. This may well be the closest thing that fans have to see Nathan play Nathan and fans are very excited about that.

Many have also said that they would love to see a full version of the movie. Indeed, the short film does hint at Nathan Drake's higher motives and a more lucrative treasure haul meaning that a bigger movie would be possible. It also features Sully and Elena, while characters such as Chloe Frazer are also hinted at, suggesting that this could become a huge action caper with all of the fan favorites.

Some fans have even said that they would be willing to support a full-length feature film through crowdfunding. Even a crowdfunded effort is unlikely to have as large a budget as the official Uncharted movie, but plenty of Uncharted fans would still be happy to pledge their dollars nonetheless.

Source: YouTube - Allan Ungar