Recently unearthed emails from the infamous 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment hacking scandal have revealed some of the former frontrunners to star as Nathan Drake in the studio’s upcoming Uncharted movie.
While some conversations between Sony executives discussing the film have previously been reported on, one discussion from November 2014 has only recently come to light. In the leaked emails, hosted by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, a number of Sony Pictures higher-ups discuss potential candidates for the role of Nathan Drake in the video game adaptation.
Oscar Isaac, whose recent roles have included Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the titular villain in X-Men: Apocalypse, seems to have been seriously considered for Uncharted’s lead role by executives, with Jamie Dornan and Aaron Taylor-Johnson also confirmed as having had script read-throughs. Australian actor Travis Fimmel also seems to have been under consideration at some point, although scheduling conflicts ultimately ruled him out from serious contention.
Previously released emails have revealed that Mark Wahlberg, Channing Tatum and Chris Hemsworth have all also been considered for the role of the wise-cracking adventurer at some point in time.
Ultimately, it’s worth remembering that the emails in question are two years old by this point; Uncharted has recently gained a new director – Shawn Levy – and many of the Sony Pictures executives involved in the discussion have left the company at this point. It does provide an interesting insight into some of the former candidates to play the role of Naughty Dog’s iconic explorer on the big screen, however.