When it comes to an iconic character like Nathan Drake, fans are bound to have a lot of feelings about his portrayal in the world of Uncharted. Voiced by Nolan North in the long-running video game series, it was nice to see a small cameo from the actor in the Uncharted movie. For many fans, North is Nathan Drake, full stop; the voice actor has mixed his own personality with Drake’s, as well as ad-libbing lines, and North performed motion capture to make Drake come alive. So when it came to casting Nathan Drake, there were many concerns. One was that Tom Holland was too young for the Nathan Drake fans already knew well. But given the fact that the movie is a bit of a prequel to where the games begin and we get to learn more of his backstory, it makes sense to have Holland be starring.
Pair that with the origin story nature of the film and Uncharted does a great job of being its own entity while paying its due to the game that started it all. Like having Nolan North show up and make it clear that it is THE Nolan North we’re seeing. Which, let’s be honest, we all knew from the voice alone, right?
So, when exactly does Nolan North show up?
Nolan North’s moment
What happens is Nathan Drake (played by Holland) and Chloe Frazer (played incredibly by Sophia Ali) escape from a plane’s cargo hold in a car and control their descent by jumping to a crate with a parachute on it. when they finally survive and crash into the ocean with only the crate left, they’re hanging in the middle of nowhere until Chloe and Nate spot a beach resort not far from them.
As they start to swim to shore (clothes and all), they walk out of the water to head into the resort to get a room when a man asks them what happened. That man? Nolan North! The cameo is sweet, with North making a quip about having to jump out of a plane without a parachute himself. It’s a good and fitting nod to the character that North brought to fans throughout the game series. But it was quite quick.
Though Nolan North wasn’t in the movie for long, the filmmakers did a great job of making it clear who this man was. Even if you didn’t recognize his voice or North’s face, the hint from the dialogue that he’s done it before makes it obvious that he is connected to this series in some way or another. If you use context clues you can figure out he is the one and only Nolan North who first brought Nathan Drake to life. North gave Drake a voice and even performed motion capture for him, and this extensive history does not go unacknowledged.
If they continue to make Uncharted movies, it would be nice to have Nolan North continually show up as the guy who says “Oh I’ve done that before” just for the gag of it. But if not, at least we have a fun moment where live-action Nathan Drake got to talk to his video game counterpart about what it feels like falling out of a plane while only using a bunch of cargo to keep you from plummeting to your death. As you do.
(image: Sony)
