Around 2010, Mark Wahlberg was attached to star in the film adaptation of the video game series ‘Uncharted’ as the series’ lead character, Nathan Drake, back when David O. Russell was attached to pen the screenplay and direct. There have been a lot of changes since then, with Rafe Judkins, and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway taking over scripting duties, and Travis Knight (‘Bumblebee’) now set to direct. The decision was made to turn the movie version into a prequel, after Tom Holland, red hot after debuting as Spider-Man in the MCU, expressed interest in playing Drake. But even with these changes, it seems that Wahlberg still wants to be a part of it, as Deadline has reported that Wahlberg is in final negotiations to sign on to play Drake’s mentor, Victor “Sully” Sullivan.
Knight took over the directing chair, after the departure of Dan Trachtenberg, who came aboard to helm this picture following the departures of (*deep breath*) Shawn Levy (‘Stranger Things’), Seth Gordon (‘Baywatch’), Neil Burger (‘The Upside’), and David O. Russell.
RELATED: ‘Uncharted’ May Have Found Its (Sixth) Director In Travis Knight
Sony is co-producing ‘Uncharted’ with Playstation Pictures, and has already staked a claim on the release date of December 18, 2020, so… good luck with that.
In March, it was reported that Sony was eyeing Chris Hemsworth, Matthew McConaughey, Chris Pine, and Woody Harrelson to portray Sully. There is a certain sense of things coming full circle with Wahlberg agreeing to play the mentor role when he was originally slated to play the lead.
Wahlberg has been struggling for a while now to get another action franchise off the ground– ‘The Six Billion Dollar Man’, a reboot of the ’70s TV show ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’, which starred Lee Majors as the bionic ex-astronaut Steve Austin. That movie has been nearly as cursed as ‘Uncharted’ when it comes to obstacles that keep popping up to prevent it from becoming a reality. Coincidentally, in April, it was reported that Knight was signing on to direct that too.
Will Knight prove to be the secret ingredient needed to pull these types of projects out of development hell? Also coincidentally, Knight directed ‘Bumblebee’ a reboot of the ‘Transformers’ franchise, and Wahlberg starred in ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, the previous entry in the franchise which seemed to necessitate the reboot.
What do you think about Mark Wahlberg serving as Tom Holland’s mentor?
