Shawn Levy has stepped away from the Uncharted movie

Earlier this summer, director Shawn Levy reported that the big-screen adaptation of the Uncharted video-game franchise was close to the starting line and would likely be his next project, but, that doesn't appear to be the case any longer. Buried in a THR casting report about FREE GUY, another upcoming Shawn Levy film, was the news that Levy has stepped away from the UNCHARTED movie and that Sony will soon be searching for a new director.

Still set to star Tom Holland (SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME) as a younger version of Nathan Drake, the UNCHARTED movie has been in development for nearly a decade, and Shawn Levy had previously said that he wanted to make the film "an Indiana Jones story for a generation that didn’t grow up on Indiana Jones." Shawn Levy's exit follows in the footsteps of David O. Russell, Neil Burger, and Seth Gordon, all of whom were slated to direct the project at one time. Hopefully the…fifth time will be the charm?

FREE GUY, which is now slated to be Shawn Levy's next film, is set to star Ryan Reynolds (DEADPOOL 2) as a background character who realizes that he's living in a video-game. With the help of an avatar, he tries to prevent the makers of the game from shutting down his world. THR reports that Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) is slated to play the avatar known as Molotov Girl, who, in the real world, is "a mousy programmer who actually created the game but was devastated when it was stolen from her." Lil Rel (GET OUT) has also joined up as the best friend of Ryan Reynolds' character who doesn't believe his claims that they're living in a video-game world, with Joe Keery (Stranger Things) also set to appear as a programmer who may or may not have a secret agenda.