‘Spider-Man’ Actor Tom Holland Reveals Hints About His Upcoming Role as Nathan Drake in ‘Uncharted’

Tom Holland has been impressing Marvel fans for years with his performance as Spider-Man in the ‘Avengers’ movies and in the ‘Spider-Man” movies, including the upcoming ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home‘, and now the English actor has entered the world of video games! Holland’s upcoming interpretation of Nathan Drake from “Uncharted”, which is a widely-acclaimed Naughty Dog video game series, has been highly anticipated by Nathan Drake fans–and now we have some new tidbits about the Sony Pictures movie!

The trailer for the movie was released last month, and in a recent interview with GQ, Tom was happy to discuss the “slick, *Indiana Jones–*y adaptation of the best-selling PlayStation franchise”. Tom revealed that he’s been apprehensive about whether or not he can “be a leading man…without the Lycra [that Spider-Man wears].” Since the original video game series has such avid fans, Tom also has had to deal with the challenges that come from playing an iconic character while also being a self-proclaimed “people pleaser”. “I don’t like the idea of people not liking me,” Tom said in the interview. “So I will do whatever I can do to make that not the case.”

When it comes to pleasing the video game series’ fans, it looks like this new adaptation will do just fine, because the trailer shows several direct references to the games. One game that seems to be featured heavily is “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception”, and new fans will probably get just as much of a kick out of the airborne cargo scene as players did when it first came out! Nate’s signature “Oh, crap” saying, Sully’s swagger, and love interest Chloe Frazer’s charisma are also evident in the trailer.

Apparently Nathan Drake “works behind a bar” at one point in the sequel, so Tom headed to the “Chiltern Firehouse, a luxury hotel in Marylebone,” “to do shifts with the staff, learning how to mix cocktails, practice trick pours, toss bottles around”. Nathan Drake doesn’t have a background as a bartender, so it will be interesting to see how that scene in the movie plays out!

While Tom Holland’s background as a ballet dancer and his gymnastics skills have led many fans to think of him as a lean, rangy youth, there is apparently “a heft to him in person” since he started bulking up to play Nathan Drake, and “his biceps are like suspension cables”. Because Holland’s co-star is Mark Wahlberg, the action star who is playing Nathan’s unofficial father and mentor Victor Sullivan, Holland had to take his co-star’s physique into account. According to him, Mark Wahlberg is “an absolute unit.” (which is “British for absolutely humongous”.) “I saw him walk onto set in his costume and I was like…’he is twice my size,’ ” Holland recalled. “After the [COVID] lockdown, we had five months off, and I just ate and trained and ate and trained. When I got back on set, the first thing he said to me was ‘Wow, somebody has been training.’ ”

Holland also found that training to play Nathan Drake was a very different experience from playing Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man). “I never realized how lucky I am that Spider-Man wears a mask, because when he’s bouncing around and flying from buildings, that’s all CG. In Uncharted it’s just me in a henley and cargo pants,” he explained. While we’re pleased to learn that Holland’s version of Drake wears a Henley shirt just as Nathan Drake does in the games, the actor went on to further explain how rough training was. “I was going to the gym in the morning like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve must have torn something in my leg,’ and the guys were like, ‘You haven’t, you’re just tired and you’re getting older.’ ”  The movie was filmed in Berlin, which may hint at its plot’s predominant treasure hunt, and apparently “by the time shooting wrapped, [Tom] had developed tendinitis, and hurt all over”. “That film absolutely broke me,” he said to GQ. Hopefully the end result is worth it! Some of the movie’s other cast members are Sophia Taylor Ali as Nathan Drake’s girlfriend Chloe Frazer (who is a real character from the games and starred in “Uncharted: The Lost Legacy”), Tati Gabrielle as the villain’s henchwoman, and Antonio Banderas (who plays the villain, a competing treasure hunter). The plot will also supposedly involve “tracking clues that may lead to Nathan’s long-lost brother”, which many fans will be happy to hear–since it probably means an appearance from Sam Drake, Nathan’s brother and an immense fan favorite from “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” and “Uncharted 5: The Lost Legacy”! Sam was played by Troy Baker in the games.

Are you excited to see this “Uncharted” prequel when it premieres next February 18th?