Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, and to mark the occasion YouTuber Thekempy has released a deep dive exploring what Amy Hennig’s original version of the game could have looked like.
Hennig created the Uncharted series, which debuted with PlayStation 3 adventure Drake’s Fortune in 2007. She also helmed the subsequent two series entries, Among Thieves and Drake’s Deception, but during development of part four, Hennig was removed from the project. Reasons for her departure – from both Uncharted and developer Naughty Dog – are still somewhat unclear, though in 2022, actor Nolan North said she was “dismissed”.
“We had shot Uncharted 4 with Amy Hennig for about seven months. We were well into the game. And she was dismissed from Naughty Dog… and they got rid of everything we did,” North, who portrayed Nathan Drake in all the mainline Uncharted games, said at the time.
After Hennig’s departure, Uncharted 4’s development was passed on to Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann, who served as the game’s directors. A number of changes were then made, including recasting. Actor Alan Tudyk was originally set to play Uncharted 4’s antagonist Rafe, while Todd Stashwick was cast as Nate’s brother, Sam. However, with Hennig gone, Warren Cole took over the role of Rafe, while Troy Baker was cast as Sam. The character of Cutter, who last appeared in Uncharted 3, was cut, and the new project leads introduced the character of Nadine, played by Laura Bailey.
And that brings us back to Thekempy’s new video, which has uncovered additional details on Hennig’s original vision for Uncharted 4. Her version would not have included the playable flashback sequence with Sam and Nate at the orphanage. Rather we would have had a cutscene of the younger Drake brother being dropped off at the orphanage, before the scene moved on to a playable section with an older version of Nate in a prison cell. As for the relationship between Nate and Sam, the fact the two are brothers would not have been revealed right away, instead being introduced over the course of the game.
Meanwhile, Elena Fisher – Nate’s ongoing love interest throughout the Uncharted series – would have had a much more significant role, especially in earlier sections of the game. She was to start Hennig’s version of Uncharted 4 diving with Nate and Victor “Sully” Sullivan in the Bahamas, where the trio would come across a shipwreck. Then, after things went awry, both Nate and Elena would attend a gala posing as guests to steal back the artifact taken from them in the Bahamas. Cutter (wearing prosthetics for a disguise) and Sully would both feature in the gala’s ballroom scene as well. A scene similar to this does feature in Uncharted 4, though it is Sam that joins Nate and Sully here, not Elena and Cutter. Meanwhile, Elena and Cutter would have also joined Nate and Sully in Scotland, and this area would have included an ATV for getting around.
Thekempy’s video is full of behind-the-scenes footage from Hennig’s version, and if you are a fellow Uncharted fan, I’d fully recommend giving it a watch. I honestly hadn’t appreciated just how much work had gone into the original Uncharted 4, before the game changed hands.
Nate and Elena’s story was wrapped up with Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, although there have been rumblings of another series entry, which is yet to be announced. The series’ fellow treasure hunter Chloe Frazer would go on to star in own game, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. These two most recent chapters got a PS5 re-release in 2022, packaged up as the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection. A PC version followed that same year.
As for Hennig, she’ is currently working on Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. It was announced in 2021 and a first teaser arrived the following year. Since then, we’ve received a few more smallish updates, including a peek at Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra’s take on Wakanda, as well as a look at its use of Epic’s MetaHuman Creator, which is intended to give each character remarkable detail.
