Nolan North hints at Uncharted 3

By Robert Purchese Published 18 January, 2010

Says 2010 will be "a busy year".

Actor Nolan North, the voice of Nathan Drake, has hinted that production on Uncharted 3 will begin this year.

Talking to GamePro about his career so far, North said 2010 is going to be "a busy year" as there are sequels to Assassin's Creed II and Uncharted 2 that need doing. He also mentioned "a couple of other big premiers that are still unannounced".

Developer Naughty Dog has said before that it's not done with Uncharted, and that there are "lots of adventures" left for Nathan Drake.

Through his voice work on Uncharted 2, North has become a bit of a star. But in 2003 Nolan North was out of a job - kicked off a failed soap opera and left to fend for himself.

Thankfully voice agent Pat Brady had snapped him up. "I had to reinvent myself as a voice actor," he said. "I had a feeling it was going to be big."

He did, and in 2007 when Uncharted: Drake's Fortune was released, North became an instant hit. "Things started blowing up when I did Uncharted," he said. North was soon taking roles across the industry, starring in inFamous, God of War, Halo, Dragon Age, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed II and more.

"I feel terrible for Brad Pitt. The anonymity of voice over is one the biggest advantages of the job. You make a great living, support your family, and nobody's going to bother you. My 'all day' is probably 4-hour days," explained North, adding that this lets him focus on his family life "more than most".

North was nominated alongside Mark Hamill and Jack Black at the Spike Video Game Awards in the Best Voice category. He said he couldn't quite believe it and realises he owes "a lot" to the videogame industry.

"I'm constantly waiting to be found out; for someone to say, 'Jig's up! You're having too much fun!' If they don't figure it out, I'm putting 'He got away with it' on my tombstone."

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • S.J.Rogers #1 2 years ago

    More Drake... \o/

  • kinky_mong #2 2 years ago

    Good on him for making a very comfortable living out of it. Wonder if the free time he has from a 4 hour working day could be used to come up with a different voice so every single game in 2010 doesn't have a protagonist with an identical "cocky" voice.

  • grayn #3 2 years ago

    The people who hire him almost certainly ask him to do that voice; it's hardly his fault.

  • Erinan #4 2 years ago

    And he's got some sense of humour, last sentence made me smile.

    I think he is perfect for Nathan Drake, but I couldn't stand him as Desmond in AC2 (probably because I was to used to Drake).

  • mrpon #5 2 years ago

    Giza job, I can do that!

    /yosser

  • X201 #6 2 years ago

    If you want repetitive voice acting just play Oblivion.

  • Mkwone #7 2 years ago

    I rearly hope Uncharted doesn't become a yearly sequel series. Games like that should feel like an occasion when they're released. I don't want it to be like 'Hey we're back and this time we're in a different location with bigger bangs!

  • menage #8 2 years ago

    If they keep the quality the same I'm in.

  • Erinan #9 2 years ago

    "I rearly hope Uncharted doesn't become a yearly sequel series."

    What about biyearly?

  • Lee_Morris #10 2 years ago

    He is great as Drake but can companys please find some other voice actors. Good on him though cause who's goning to turn down all them gigs.

    I don't think he was meaning Uncharted 3 for 2010 as if you've seen the behind the scenes stuff they basically rehearse and mocap and do the voice work before going into full production on the game.

  • Evolution #11 2 years ago

    "My 'all day' is probably 4-hour days," explained North.

    I hate this man.

  • GreyBeard #12 2 years ago

    I can well see Uncharted3 being out for Christmas this year, after all in the two years since the original Uncharted NDI not only revamped the single player engine and gameplay substantially, but created all the online stuff too.

    Realistically the groundwork is done, so they can focus on creating the content for a new campaign and iterating upon the online feature-set. Turning it around in 12 months is very possible (especially if a lot of the art is outsourced), and would probably do wonders for their balance sheet.

  • chrisno21 #13 2 years ago

    I doubt it'll be out this year, but I do know that I want it whever it's ready. U1+2 have set such high standards that I hope it's not rushed out and also hope they don't go all Lara Croft and lose the plot.

  • Zebula77 #14 2 years ago

    Yeah, I'm also hoping it won't be a yearly thing. They should definitely focus on maintaining that high level of standard, and perhaps make things a bit more open. Not open-world open, but more exploration and puzzle solving would be nice.

    North is definitely one of my fave voice actors out there. Apart from the games he's done, I think he did a fantastic role as Deadpool in the recent "Hulk Vs" animated movie. I'm pretty sure he could do other voices than Drake of course. I heard him do a Christopher Walken impression, which was as good as any other imitator I've heard. Bunches of talent in that guy.

  • awb83 #15 2 years ago

    Not surprised at this.

    I'd give uncharted 2 about 8/10. I find the gun battles very frustrating at times.

  • Dr.Mott #16 2 years ago

    He also does the voice of Sigmund in Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time.

  • bodypopper #17 2 years ago

    Uncharted 3: Nate goes to Pandora?

    Now Naughty Dog has shown how to do this sort of thing brilliantly, can we have a proper next-gen Indy game now please LucasArts? Even if it is a clone gameplay wise.

    Edited by 2 at 18/01/10 @ 11:23

  • SMOM #18 2 years ago

    It's a shame he seems to do every game under the sun.

  • optimusprym8 #19 2 years ago

    He's in the Guild Wars 2 VO trailer too, having done Nightfall & Factions voices.

    More green apple!

  • local_celebrity #20 2 years ago

    Jammy cunt.

  • Bigglesworth #21 2 years ago

    Yeah, I feel sorry for handsome multi-millionaire Brad Pitt too.

  • mkreku #22 2 years ago

    Handsome millionaire who gets to sleep with Angelina Jolie.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #23 2 years ago

    Good news on potentially more Uncharted and/or Shadow Complex. Finished UC2 over the weekend. Classic!

    Bad news on more Nolan North tbh... As mentioned above, his voice is turning up far too regularly and is instantly noticeable :o/

    Still, glad to hear he's making hay and all that!

  • Artemus #24 2 years ago

    Does North have to sound the same in every goddamn game he's in now though? Drake is such a well realized game character that it really takes me out of the experience when I hear North playing another character that sounds exactly like Drake.

  • chub #25 2 years ago

    I thought he was great as Drake but really not the right choice for Prince of Persia. Sorry, but the Prince should not be American!

    Does anyone know if he will be doing the voicework in PoP: The Forgotten Sands?

  • makeamazing #26 2 years ago

    I doubt UC3 will be out this year, and certainly think that it will be a 2 - 3 year thing with UC. Great voiceover work though :)

  • cianchristopher #27 2 years ago

    Didn't Nolan North voice Desmond in the first Assassin's Creed also?

    He sure sounds like him, anyway...

  • chukcyQ #28 2 years ago

    Both tunnel platformers sucked big time.

  • 4thVariety #29 2 years ago

    What? A sequel to the best game of 2009?
    How dare they.

  • Gaol #30 2 years ago

    Not sure I see the connection with what he said and Uncharted 3. Given the amount of work he does it could mean anything.

  • OnlyMe #31 2 years ago

    I just hope we'll get as many Uncharted games as possible this generation. We all know Uncharted will be dropped the next generation, so that Naughty Dog can do something different... again. PS1 had Crash. When the PS2 came out, we Crash, but got Jak and Daxter - which made us forget about Crash. Now, we still want a Jak and Daxter for the PS3, but thanks to Uncharted, not yet having one doesn't hurt so much. When the PS4 comes out, and Naughty Dog releases their next game, we will "forget" about Drake's adventures (while still hoping for an Ucnharted PS4).

  • TonyHarrison #32 2 years ago

    After El Dorado and the Shangri La like Shambhala I wouldn't be surprised if they head in the direction of Atlantis...

    They could have trident wielding mermen as the zombie/yeti surprise thing...

  • 52pickup #33 2 years ago

    Can't wait for the next one. Brilliant game. btw while we wait for this game, there's always this one to look forward to and it's only 2 months away :D http://ww w.vg247.com/2010/01/18/god-of-w...

  • solid_smithy91 #34 2 years ago

    i think he does the voice of sigmund from R&C CIT

  • secombe #35 2 years ago

    Are Naughty Dog contracted in blood to Sony forever? A shame they can't go it alone and go multiformat, instant tripling of sales as I get the feeling Uncharted would sell in insane numbers on the 360.

  • Murton #36 2 years ago

    Secombe: they're a Sony owned company so I doubt they'll ever be able to "go it alone" even if they wanted to, which I doubt they do. Also how do you figure they'd triple their sales when the number of PS3s and 360s out in the real world are only a couple of million units apart?

    I never put Uncharted and Assassins Creed together until I got AC2 for Christmas and being so soon after Uncharted 2 I realised that Desmond and Nathan are one and the same. He's a great actor and really sells his characters, I'd much rather Nolan voices another dozen games then have studios blow massive sums of money on major Hollywood actors who aren't ideally suited for voice acting, look at Neeson in Fallout 3, possibly the most unconvincing performance of his career, it's almost like he phoned his lines in.

    Also, wasn't Nolan North linked with the Army of Two movie at one point?

  • JohnnyWashnGo #37 2 years ago

    More uncharted == Good Thing.

  • wantafanta #38 2 years ago

    i read that last week.

  • man.the.king #39 2 years ago

    North is great at his job, and has a nice sense of comic timing, but this:

    ""I feel terrible for Brad Pitt. The anonymity of voice over is one the biggest advantages of the job."

    Yeeah! Poor Pitt! I feel sorry for him too. :)

  • man.the.king #40 2 years ago

    @secombe

    "Are Naughty Dog contracted in blood to Sony forever? A shame they can't go it alone and go multiformat, instant tripling of sales as I get the feeling Uncharted would sell in insane numbers on the 360."

    Yes, I'm sure Naughty Dog share your pain at their not being able to develop for the 360 :)
    Edited by 1 at 19/01/10 @ 07:35

  • 3william56 #41 2 years ago

    Yeah, he doesn't get bothered yet. But the first time he sticks his head above the parapet and takes a games con role, he'll be forever followed around by fanboys wanting him to shout "crapcrapcrap".

    Definitely at risk of overexposure though - Drake Void just sounded soooo wrong.

  • Zebula77 #42 2 years ago

    @Murton: About Neeson in Fallout 3 - true that, altho he was ten times better than just about every other voice actor in that game. :p

    ...at least better than Moira - I got sooooo sick of her voice!

  • Slipstream #43 2 years ago

    Nolan's voice was a highlight in Dark Void if anything, he actually gave that generic looking polygon some character, and yeah, even thogugh the main character sounds, even looks a bit, like Drake, it isn't going to save the game from it's predictable fate.
    Edited by 1 at 19/01/10 @ 15:56

  • Thedni #44 2 years ago

    Just looked down a list of what he's done, had no idea he was Romeo in ODST.