Uncharted: The Lost Legacy director Kurt Margenau has praised the casting of Spider-Man: No Way Home star Tom Holland as aspiring adventurer Nathan Drake in Sony’s upcoming adaptation of Naughty Dog video game Uncharted. Speaking with Games Radar, Margenau, who was co-lead designer on Uncharted 4 and game director on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, did admit that he is not involved in bringing the series to live-action, but could not wait to finally see the movie following so, so many delays, believing that Holland is a “great choice.”

Casting Tom Holland as Nathan Drake was met with a mixed response from fans of the video games, with many feeling that the actor is too young, as well as worries that he will play the character too similar to that of Peter Parker. Uncharted will act as something of a prequel to the source material, hence why the depiction of Drake is so young, but that has not assuaged all the concerns. Perhaps the endorsement of Kurt Margenau will help with this.

“The two of us aren’t directly involved in that. And, you know, I’m excited to see Tom Holland’s take on the character. I don’t know anything other than the trailers we’ve seen. I’m just excited. It’s like, it’s finally here! We have Uncharted on the big screen, and it’s not going to change directors again, and it’s not going to be in development for even longer. And I think Tom Holland is a great choice. And they’re pulling inspiration from the games, so it’s really satisfying to see that gets to be on the big screen.”

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Fans are not the only ones worried about how well Tom Holland will fare as Nathan Drake, with the actor himself previously explaining his own fears. “As soon as you start worrying about ‘Do I look good in this shot?’ acting becomes something other than playing a character. I think there are elements of my performance in Uncharted where I kind of fell under that spell of being ‘I want to look good now. I want this to be my cool moment’.”

Continuing, Holland had concerns over playing such a different character to what he is used to. “I had to play this very tough, very stoic guy - basically be Mark Wahlberg. My character is supposed to be a fucking action hero in this moment! Look, I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know if I succeeded in that. But it was an important lesson learned, because, at times, it was less about land a mark and go through this scene and more about land a mark, stand like this and see my bulging biceps… It was a mistake and is something that I will probably never do again.”

Directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Rafe Lee Judkins, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, Uncharted stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as his mentor Victor Sullivan, with Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle and Antonio Banderas in supporting roles. Uncharted is scheduled to be theatrically released by Sony Pictures Releasing on February 11, 2022, in the United Kingdom, and on February 18 in the United States.