Even before the release ofUncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Naughty Dog made it abruptly clear to fans that this was theend of the linefor protagonist Nathan Drake. However, the franchise remains incredibly popular, so few were surprised to hear that it will continue one without its former lead, starting withThe Lost Legacy.
The Lost Legacystars Chloe Frazer, the treasure hunter and thief that was introduced inUncharted 2: Among Thieves. She forms an uneasy alliance with gun-for-hire Nadine Ross, a character who will be familiar to anyone who played throughA Thief’s End.
“There was never any doubt in our minds thatUnchartedis more than just Nathan Drake,” said the director ofThe Lost Legacy, Kurt Margenau, in a new interview. “While Nate was the center of this series, we felt that this presented a blank slate for us to show off others that we didn’t explore all that [much].”
Indeed the franchise has offered up all kinds of compelling characters over the course of the first four mainline installments. Many fans no doubt had their own ideas on who could be bumped up to the level of protagonist, ranging from Nathan’s brother Sam, to his longtime collaborator Victor Sullivan.
However, the development team were confident thatleaving behindthe previously established main cast was the right way to go. The idea was thatA Thief’s Endprovided closure in a lot of ways, and immediately dropping those characters into a new adventure would have undone a rather satisfying conclusion.
It remains to be seen whether Chloe and Nadine are the new leading ladies of theUnchartedfranchise, or whetherThe Lost Legacyis just a one-off. The game wasoriginally envisaged as DLC, and has now been upgraded to a standalone release — but there’s still no word on what the future holds for the series.
Uncharted: The Lost Legacylaunches for the PlayStation 4 on June 20, 2025.
