While Tom Holland was cast as Nathan Drake in Sony's Uncharted film, actor Nathan Fillion had been fans' top pick to play the adventurer for years.

While Tom Holland was cast as Nathan Drake in Sony Pictures' Uncharted, why was Nathan Fillion never cast as the iconic video game adventurer? Sony's film adaptation sat in various stages of development for years and finally hit theaters in February of 2022, and yet Fillion was never officially attached to the role despite being the top pick to play Drake across internet message boards and social media. It's led a number of people to wonder if there were a particular reason why Fillion (and others) were passed over for the role. The answer seems to be time.

Uncharted was in development since 2008, with a number of restarts and delays and a variety of directors, writers, and actors attached to play Nathan Drake. Around 2009, Nathan Fillion began a campaign announcing his interest in the role, gathering large amounts of support from fans of the video game series. The support was understandable, as it's incredibly easy to see Fillion's resemblance to Drake both in appearance and in personality after only a few minutes of playing the games. But other actors were soon attached to Uncharted, including notable names such as Chris Pratt and Mark Wahlberg, before Sony eventually settled on the film being a prequel to the games and cast Tom Holland as a younger Nathan Drake.

Despite never officially being attached to the project, at least not publicly, Nathan Fillion had to have been at least considered by Sony Pictures at some point in the incredibly long production process. Back in 2018, Fillion even starred in a popular Uncharted fan film production from director Allan Ungar as Drake, with Avatar's Stephen Lang as his partner/mentor, Victor "Sully" Sullivan. Yet it never came to fruition. In an interview Nathan Fillion explained that the problem was likely the sheer amount of time the Uncharted adaptation had been in development:

"My only regret is that we had to wait so very, very long for someone to do something so we could actually see some Uncharted stuff. Other than that, I think all my boxes have been checked. I'm pretty excited to see what they do with that. I love movies and those guys have never let us down; Tom Holland, come on, Mark Wahlberg. We're gonna have a great time."

Tom Holland's Nathan Drake Can Be Just As Good As Nathan Fillion

While not critically acclaimed, Uncharted did very well with audiences, and a lot of that is due to Tom Holland's performance in the titular role of Nathan Drake. While fans of the video game certainly enjoyed Nathan Fillion's take on Drake in the fan video, Tom Holland's portrayal of the character is decidedly different. The Uncharted movie takes place when the adventurer is still young and just beginning his adventures, leaving a lot of room for Holland's character to grow within the new action franchise. Had Nathan Fillion been cast as the already-adult Drake, it wouldn't have left much room for possible sequels in what could be a lucrative endeavor. Fillion did give the performance that fans wanted, and he did his best to model the video game character as accurately as possible. While the actor succeeded in showing audiences the wisecracking seasoned treasure hunter, studios had a different story in mind for an Uncharted prequel that affected who could play the role.

Since Holland is younger than Fillion, his characterization of Nathan Drake is much more naive in regards to the action aspect, though he's just as street-wise. The actor brings youthful bewilderment and his own brand of humor to the character, affording viewers a glimpse into what the older Drake will be like after years of exploration. Fan reactions were divided when the trailer came out. But, ultimately, the box office proves that audiences enjoyed Tom Holland's performance. Also, the box office numbers for Uncharted show real promise for the franchise as a whole, meaning that Holland will definitely reprise his role as Nathan Drake for any sequels.

While Nathan Fillion has made his peace with not playing Drake, he does seem right that time was the biggest factor. A perfect example of this is that, despite Mark Wahlberg being attached to play Nathan Drake the longest, he was eventually replaced by Holland and instead plays Sully in the prequel film. Had Uncharted not taken so long to develop (over a decade), perhaps Fillion would have been in the running along with Wahlberg.

It's also fair to say that with the money Sony has spent on Uncharted, they were looking for a legitimate A-lister for the role. Fillion is well-known and beloved by many, but he's thought of as a TV actor, with only a few live-action movie appearances to his name, with few of those being major roles. Judging from the final casting, Sony was clearly looking for a big, household name for the role of Nathan Drake and despite Fillion being fantastic, he's arguably not on that level in Hollywood – not to a studio thinking of name recognition when it comes to the broader general and international audience.

While Sony's new direction for their first Uncharted adaptation and casting of Tom Holland might not be what some had hoped for, the box office numbers speak for themselves. Some are still bemoaning the loss of not having Nathan Fillion as Drake but, unfortunately, it looks as though they'll just have to be content with the short fan film from 2018. Tom Holland's boundless charisma won over skeptics when Sony's Uncharted hit theaters, giving Tom Holland's character Nathan Drake a promising future.

Next: Casting [SPOILER] For Uncharted 2: Who Is The Actor In The Credits Scene?