Warning: This post contains spoilers for Uncharted.Tom Holland playing Nathan Drake, even though his casting divided fans. Uncharted received mixed-to-negative reviews but has been a modest box office hit for Tom Holland and Sony following their massive success with Spider-Man: No Way Home. If Uncharted 2 does come to , there is plenty of scope for Nolan North to become a reoccurring character in Sony's new movie franchise.
Nolan North provides the voice and motion capture for treasure hunter Nathan Drake in the Uncharted video games, and his cameo on the beach is a nice Easter egg for many fans of the long-running series. After falling from a cargo plane into the ocean, Holland's Drake emerges onto a beach, where Nolan North is sunning himself and asks him what happened. When Holland tells him, North replies "something like that happened to me once before," in reference to a similar sequence in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.
While Uncharted video games shows he can keep up physically, too.
Uncharted 2 Should Give Game Fans More Of What They Love
Having Nolan North return for Uncharted 2 could also retrospectively explain why he's on a beach in the Philippines. If he were a fellow treasure hunter, he could have potentially found out about the location of the treasure via another means and been there to search for it. The fact that he looks around at Drake walking away and says "good luck" suggests that he might know more than he's letting on. Uncharted 2 could also benefit from Nolan North's ad-libbing skills that he brought to the Uncharted games. He infused his version of Nathan Drake with a strong personality, and bringing some of that charm to the sequel could bring Uncharted 2 closer to the games.
Nolan North's Appearance In Uncharted 2 Should Be Bigger Than A Cameo
While Nolan North's Uncharted cameo made for fun content in the first movie, it might be better if he doesn't appear in the sequel as a joke. Fans of the popular video game series were more than happy to see Nolan North make an appearance, and the movie would've been remiss if they didn't at least give some type of nod to the Nathan Drake actor. However, including him in the sequel for yet another brief cameo might be beating a dead horse. While due respect should be given to North's impact, plenty of other voice actors have been staples in the video game franchise who didn't get a cameo, and a sequel has the chance to scope out new ground. Uncharted 2 can cast other video game characters to pay proper homage to the franchise as a whole. In addition, another fleeting Nolan North cameo could come across as tired, and the inclusion of in-jokey cameos isn't the only ingredient needed to cook up a good movie.
If Uncharted 2 were to double down on his beach cameo, it would be fun to open up Uncharted’s world more with his presence and link it further to the games. Having another light-hearted, jokey cameo isn't necessary, but cleverly using his knowledge of the series to further tie the film series to the games couldn't hurt. Uncharted 2 has another opportunity to win over gamers who were disappointed with the first movie, and what better way than having the original Nathan Drake play a bigger part in the sequel? It'd be a prime opportunity to step beyond the cameo's role as a dopamine hit of humor and recognition, putting it to effective narrative use and creating better synchronicity between the stories' platforms.
