'Uncharted 5' will not feature Nathan Drake

Sony/Naughty Dog

"Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" is set to release this April and it is likely going to be the last game in the franchise to feature main character Nathan Drake. According to a report from The Sun, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann has stated that if a fifth game were to happen, it will not have Nathan Drake in it.

"Sony owns Uncharted and they can do whatever they want. But at the end of this story, it will be really hard to do a sequel with Nathan Drake," Druckmann explained. 

According to a report from Games Radar, this could spell doom for the popular video game character. While there are the possibilities of Nathan Drake giving up his career and eventually settling down again with Elena or even becoming a monk in Tibet, there is the chance that the fourth game will simply end with Nathan's death.

The report also cites that Nathan's end was also teased as far back as 2011. The former company president Evan Wells had explained that even the main character was subject to being killed off, stating that nothing, not even the leads, were considered sacred. However, he did explain that doing so wouldn't be for shock value but to serve a narrative purpose in the game and the franchise as a whole.

If the franchise does move forward, fans speculate that the fifth game may be a spin-off taking place prior to the fourth game's events or it may be a sequel or even a separate title entirely using a different main character.

Druckmann's statements also hint that despite the fourth title being the official end of Nathan Drake's story, there may yet be more games in the franchise in the future. Konami has decided to move on with the "Metal Gear Solid" franchise despite Hideo Kojima leaving the company and it is likely Sony will do the same with the "Uncharted" series.

"Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" will release this coming April for the PlayStation 4.