Nathan Fillion Uncharted deepfake fills delayed film’s void

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The UNCHARTED film adaptation of the popular video game seems like one of those projects we may never see due to the various delays that have hit the production but a new deepfake YouTube video gives fans a glimpse of what could have been if a fan-favorite had been cast in the lead role of Nathan Drake. 

Deepfakes are videos that have been altered via computer software to feature people saying or doing things they were not before. They have been used for a wide range of purposes with one of them involving re-imagining video game characters to be portrayed by popular actors like Nicolas Cage or in this case, Nathan Fillion, who gets a chance to take on the Nathan Drake persona in this latest video. Fillion has long been a popular choice for the role in the film adaptation but that job has gone to Tom Holland, who is taking on a younger version of the character. You can check out the deepfake video below:

Fillion hasn't only been a fan favorite for the part due to his physical resemblance to the character but also because of his roguish charm and razor-sharp wit. He only gained traction with fans when he played Drake in an Uncharted fan film. Deepfake creator Jarkan built on all of this as he recently posted a video of Nathan Fillion’s face superimposed onto Nathan Drake’s character model in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. The deepfake video finds the unlucky treasure hunter confronted by his wife Elena for taking up another potentially dangerous expedition behind her back. To demonstrate how seamlessly Jarkan blended the actor’s likeness into Uncharted 4's in-game graphics, the video even repeats the scene with a split-screen display of the game’s original clip alongside Jarkan’s work.

The deepfake video will be the closest thing fans will get to see of an UNCHARTED movie for quite a while. The film was finally set to start production after multiple directors came and went off the project but the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down before they could get rolling. Throw in many script rewrites and the attached curse of just being a video game adaptation, UNCHARTED is fighting an uphill battle but Sony seems really invested in the project, despite all the issues. The film also stars Mark Wahlberg & Antonio Banderas.

Did you like the latest deepfake video? UNCHARTED hits screens on July 16, 2021.