Naughty Dog

Todd Stashwick may be helping Amy Hennig write Visceral Games’ upcoming Star Wars title, but he’s no longer in Uncharted PS4. According to IGN, the Hollywood star – who narrated the exclusive’s initial trailer – has been recast, meaning that we don’t actually know who any of the project's actors are any more. It’s safe to assume that Nolan North will reprise his role as protagonist Nathan Drake, but seeing as he was recently photographed with the aforementioned departees, even his involvement remains uncertain.

“They chose to recast my role,” the actor said succinctly. Exactly what this means for the state of the upcoming release remains unclear, but Sony has iterated on multiple occasions that the impending adventure’s development schedule has not been affected. Early rumours suggested that there was a falling out over the direction of the sequel, but the Californian company vehemently denied that pressure from The Last of Us directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley led to Hennig’s exit. Game director Justin Richmond left of his own volition late last month.

This marks the latest twist in an ongoing saga, which has seen numerous employees leave Naughty Dog over the past few months. Lead artist Nate Wells is the other most recent casualty, having announced earlier today that he has joined The Unfinished Swan developer Giant Sparrow. Exactly what the decision to recast Stashwick’s role means for Uncharted PS4 is not clear, but seeing as he’d supposedly been working on the project for six months, we reckon that any hope of the title releasing this year is gone at this point.

[source uk.ign.com]