Sony’s Uncharted, an action-adventure based on the top-selling PlayStation video game series created by Naughty Dog and published by PlayStation, has hit yet another snag. It’s being reported that director Travis Knight, the Laika animation wiz who made his live-action directing debut on the Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, is out as the director of Uncharted due to scheduling conflicts involving its star, Tom Holland.
The scheduling conflict is said to be because of Holland’s commitment to Spider-Man 3, which is said to begin shooting in the summer of 2020. Uncharted was expected to start shooting early 2020 but with Holland booke for Spider-Man 3 for the summer, it doesn’t appear feasible that he can be available for two big tentpole films that are shooting so close together. Sony still intends to move forward with the film with a new director and a new release date and Holland, along with Mark Wahlberg, are still attached to star in the film.
Reports suggest that the scheduling conflict and moving of the release date came very suddenly for all involved. Sony has already begun meeting with potential female leads and actors to play the main villain. Decisions on both parts will now wait as the studio looks for a new director first.
This isn’t the first director snag for Uncharted. Dan Trachtenberg was originally attached to direct but departed earlier this year due to creative differences. It has also been suggested that Holland’s part in Uncharted was one of many bargaining tools used to broker a new deal to keep Spider-Man in the MCU. News of Travis Knight taking over as director broke the same day that Sony/Marvel/Disney came to a new agreement on the Spider-Man property.
The Uncharted games follow Nathan Drake (set to be played by Tom Holland), a treasure hunter who journeys across the world to uncover various historical mysteries. The video game series has sold more than 41 million copies to date.
