Nathan Drake's Actor Says He's In for Uncharted 5

Chalk one up for the home team before a single frame of this game even exists, because the man who made Nathan Drake worth rooting for just said he is ready to go again. Nolan North told a crowd at Gamergy in Puerto Rico that he would come back for a new Uncharted "110 percent," as relayed by GameSpot, which credited the comments to a clip surfaced by DomTheBomb.

Credit where it's due: North isn't just saying yes because an interviewer asked nicely. He said he stays in shape for exactly this scenario and that he can't picture a situation where he'd turn it down. That's the kind of loyalty a franchise earns, not buys, and Xbox, you don't get to know what that feels like because you don't have a Nathan Drake to ask.

North was careful to say he hasn't actually been contacted about a new game, which keeps this squarely in rumor territory even with North's enthusiasm doing the heavy lifting. The reports he's reacting to claim Naughty Dog's next project is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, due in 2027, with Uncharted 5 and a third The Last of Us trailing behind it, and that Drake himself would turn up in some form in that fifth game. None of that is confirmed by Sony or Naughty Dog, so treat the release order and the cameo as reported, not announced.

What does North actually want out of a comeback? Quality. He name-checked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as the cautionary tale, a good franchise let down by one weak entry, and said he doesn't want Uncharted to get its own version of that. Fair worry, and it's the one thing standing between "110 percent" and an actual yes from Sony.

Until there's an announcement, this is a wish list with a very good actor attached to it. But I'll take an actor begging to come back over a platform that can't keep its own mascots employed.