Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series sold millions of copies across multiple installments, but the main franchise has been dormant since 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End brought Nathan Drake’s story seemingly to a close. Now, however, fans are theorizing that Naughty Dog might be returning to the franchise, thanks in part to a vague post from Naughty Dog creative director Shaun Escayg.
A vague Instagram photo from February of a cannon in a tropical environment that is captioned “research” is now making the rounds. People are theorizing that Escayg went to Fort George at Trinidad and Tobago to help research a new Uncharted game. It’s rumored that merchants stored records and valuables at Fort George, further fueling the connection to Uncharted.
Nothing is certain, of course, and Escayg might have been referencing pretty much anything with his post, or nothing at all.
At the same time, Uncharted is one of Sony’s most popular and best-known gaming franchises, so it stands to reason that the company would eventually return to the series.
A decade ago, Naughty Dog suggested it was finished with the Uncharted series, but studio head Neil Druckmann said Uncharted 5 could happen with a different developer. Naughty Dog would assist an outside studio to help make sure whatever team made a hypothetical new Uncharted game would get the “essence” right, Druckmann explained.
Naughty Dog has at least two single-player games in development, and we only know about one of them: Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The studio could also be working on The Last of Us 3.
Naughty Dog has released no brand-new games during the PS5 generation so far.
Beyond the games, an Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland was released in 2022. It made more than $400 million worldwide, and is the No. 7 highest-grossing video game movie of all time. Studio Sony Pictures said Uncharted could become a film “franchise,” but no new movies have been announced.