Warning: This article contains spoilers for Uncharted!The Uncharted movie ending suggested there was more to come, setting up a potential franchise based on the hit game series. The globe-trotting action-adventure caper sees Holland’s Nathan Drake team up with Sully (Mark Wahlberg) to find his brother, the lost Magellan treasure, and his own idenтιтy along the way. Throw in some petty theft (a victimless crime when the mark is a spoiled brat in this universe, apparently), a missing brother, and a horde of obsessive treasure hunters, and it’s a recipe for intrigue. But is there subtext and symbolism in there?

Uncharted eschewed many modern blockbuster tropes — such as deconstructing villains or endless thematic gloom — to make something that lands somewhere between The Goonies and The Da Vinci Code. The approach made for a family-appropriate action movie, while also nailing some of what makes the Uncharted games so beloved. Even for a relatively straightforward story, however, Uncharted does have depth. It explores weighty moral concepts such as greed and loyalty in an accessible, entertaining package. Tom Holland’s first post-Spider-Man action movie is packed with Uncharted Easter eggs too, along with impressive action set-pieces, all tied up with a sequel-teasing finale. Here’s the Uncharted ending explained.

Is Uncharted’s Treasure Lost Forever?

Someone Could Still Retrieve The Magellan Treasure

Despite the entire Uncharted plot centering on Sully’s obsessive yearning for the lost Magellan treasure, nobody walks away with it by the time the Uncharted ending rolls around. Braddock (Tati Gabrielle) plans to extract the treasure by airlifting Magellan’s ships, but both end up smashed to pieces with the treasure sinking. The Megllan’s ships are good 500 years old, but they survive most of the journey — until they fall foul of both each other and a cliff face. Mark Wahlberg’s Sully confirms the treasure of one ship, which is still retrievable, belongs to the Philippine government.

While one of the Magellan ships is destroyed in such a way that makes salvaging the treasure possible, the other wreckage spills its cargo in a less easily retrievable fashion. There’s every possibility some of the treasure could still be reclaimed. Perhaps that could be how the luckless Chloe Frazer spends her time after Nate’s “betrayal” of her. There would certainly be millions scattered around the difficult-to-navigate areas of the ocean outside the cave, even if Sully seems to write them off immediately.

Uncharted throws in a surprising amount of moralizing on greed when it comes to its treasure, and the motives of the treasure-hunters seeking it. Nathan Drake is introduced as a grifter, using his bar job to rob wealthy young marks to pay for his studio apartment — a shady past Sully uses as leverage to employ Nate, who never expresses anything like guilt. The corrupt desire of Antonio Banderas’ Santiago Moncada, and the unending greed for plundering that drives Braddock, Frazer, and Sully, is a stark contrast. Because each of them is willing to kill, betray, or steal from anyone to get their riches, they’re clearly morally different from Nate, whose grifting — and treasure-lust — are mostly necessitated by economic circumstances.

How Sam Is Alive (And Where He’s Locked Up)

Sully May Have The Answers

The Uncharted movie ending also reveals a surprise involving Sam, Nathan Drake’s brother. After letting Nate believe that Sam is merely missing, Sully tells him his brother was actually sH๏τ and killed by Braddock, with his posthumous help with the clues to the treasure his last legacy. Ultimately, the first Uncharted credits scene reveals that a bearded Sam is alive and trapped in a gloomy prison cell still trying to get messages out to Tom Holland’s Nate.

If the Uncharted movies are following from the games, the answer to how Sam survived comes from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, in which it is revealed Sam’s ᴀssumed death never happened, and he was merely imprisoned after a mission went wrong. Nate, who was on the mission, believed him to be ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and left him, only to be reunited later when Sam is bailed. It seems likely that the same is true in the Uncharted movie — either Sully’s ᴀssumption is false, or Sully is more involved in Sam’s imprisonment than it seems.

What Sam’s Warning To Nate Means

It’s revealed in the Uncharted movie ending credits scene that Sam still has warnings for Nathan, as he is shown writing a message to his brother to “watch his back“. Sam’s messages to that point were vague, but that expression suggests betrayal, implying some distrust of Sully or his ᴀssociates. While Nate and Sully appear to be allies for the time being, their relationship is based on mutual distrust at times in Uncharted, and it wouldn’t be illogical for the sequel to pull on those threads again.

Either Sully’s Uncharted backstory reveals that Sam believes he set him up to be imprisoned, or their story is completely fabricated and Sam is imprisoned intentionally as he was during the story leading up to his supposed death in the games. Nathan is already in a world of cut-throats and backstabbers, and Sam’s advice generally is appropriate, but it certainly seems to point to a further revelation about his past with Mark Wahlberg’s Sully.

Uncharted Sequel Story: Who Gage & Roman Are

The Uncharted 2 Villains May Have Been Revealed

The second Uncharted movie end credits scene introduces another new character in the form of a bearded villain named Gage played by Pilou Asbæk, known for playing Euron Greyjoy, the memorable villain on Game of Thrones. Though Gage may not be a game character, but his boss, Roman, is. In Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Nate and Sully attempt to locate Sir Francis Drake’s coffin — revealed in the movie to be their ancestor — which would lead them to the lost city of El Dorado.

Gabriel Roman, a British crime lord with a penchant for antiques and lost treasures was also on the same trail and became the main antagonist. Fans can expect to see him show up if the franchise does indeed continue even if an actor has not been cast in Uncharted 2 yet.

What’s Next For Chloe Frazer?

Introducing Elena May Make Chloe’s Story Difficult To Continue

The Uncharted movie ending leaves questions about Chloe Frazer’s return. It seems unlikely that Sophia Ali’s Chloe Frazer will simply allow Nathan and Sully to get away with tricking her out of the Magellan treasure. If they end up on the trail of Francis Drake’s coffin and El Dorado, it would make sense that Chloe will turn up again to hunt the treasure alongside them. There were also strong hints throughout Uncharted that Nathan does have feelings for her, even with the betrayal.

The potential wrinkle in developing a romance arc, however, is that Drake’s Fortune introduced Elena Fisher — a pH๏τojournalist who would go on to become Nate’s wife in the game series. If Elena appears in Uncharted 2 it’s possible Chloe will not return if the Uncharted sequel plans to adapt that particular game.

Why Uncharted Waited To Give Sully A Mustache

The Subtle Appearance Change Builds Hype For A Sequel

Mark Wahlberg’s movie version of Victor Sullivan is very different from the games, but the Uncharted movie ending teases one video game element. The choice to reveal his game-accurate look until the ending is a narrative trick several recent video game adaptations have pulled — Sonic The Hedgehog’s post-credits scene revealing Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik’s games-accurate look in the post-credits, for instance.

The Uncharted Sully mustache reveal seeks the same exchange with the audience, promising that they’ll see a more accurate, familiar version if they come back for the sequel. Whether it’ll happen or not, in this case, is less clear after Uncharted‘s poor critical reception.

Can Uncharted Really Become A Franchise For Tom Holland

The Viability Of More Uncharted Movies Is Still Uncertain

The Uncharted movie ending sets up a sequel with far more self-confidence than it should. In the grand scheme of things, Uncharted would be far from the first overly-ambitious movie to tease a sequel that never materializes. Uncharted’s confidence could be buoyed by early box office projections, which defied the critics, but it wasn’t a cheap movie to produce at $120m — so a sequel is by no means a guarantee. Holland and Wahlberg as actors are a good match, so they may well be eyed up as a pair again outside an Uncharted sequel. The big question is whether attempting to mirror the level-like set-up of the Uncharted games for a sequel will be financially viable.

As for Tom Holland’s career, Nathan Drake is definitely a character with a lot of acting potential. Uncharted teased many further mysteries for Holland’s Drake to solve, even if they’re not given much subtext. Drake is also a character with surprising thematic depth. The clash of youth and cynical age, the dangers of greed, the curse of bloodied money, and of course the value of loyalty — all of these factor heavily into Nathan Drake’s story and would allow Tom Holland to demonstrate his skills as an actor. While the franchise potential for the studio is debatable, for Tom Holland’s career it’s a viable move.

Is Uncharted 2 Happening?

A Sequel Has Been Confirmed, But Progress Is Slow

Even with the tease in the Uncharted movie ending, and its surprise success at the box office, movement on an Uncharted sequel has been slow. The bigger question surrounding a potential sequel comes from the movie’s star. It was thought that Uncharted could be Tom Holland’s next action franchise, and that might still be the case.

However, the actor has confirmed that he is taking a break from acting for a time, which could delay any talk of Uncharted 2. Fans were surely excited by what was promised in the Uncharted movie ending, but they will have to wait and see if anything comes of it in the end.

How The Uncharted Movie Ending Compares To The Game

The 2022 Film Tells Quite A Different Story

Comparing the ending of the Uncharted movie and game is difficult, since there were many changes to the story. For example, the characters of Santiago Moncada and Jo Braddock were invented for the 2022 film, and aren’t in the game series. This means that plot points like Sam being sH๏τ by Braddock are a complete deviation from the source material.

The plot of Uncharted is loosely based on the fourth game in the franchise, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, which is a prequel taking place several years before the first Uncharted game. However, even then, the plots of the movie and Uncharted 4 are very different. For example, in Uncharted 4, Nathan Drake teams up with Sam to hunt for the long-lost treasure of famed explorer Henry Avery, rather than that found in the lost Magellan ships. This is obviously completely different from the 2022 movie, which makes comparing the endings of the film and games more-or-less impossible.

The Real Meaning Of The Uncharted Ending

The Action Adventure Story Doesn’t Have Much Thematic Depth

While the ending of the 2022 Uncharted movie was certainly a pulse-pounding finale, it didn’t really contain any thematic depth or deeper hidden message. The final moments served two key purposes – delivering plenty of high-octane spectacle, and setting up anticipation for Uncharted 2 and other potential sequels. The Uncharted ending was every bit as simple as it seemed on the surface. However, this can’t really be seen as a negative.

Movies like Uncharted never promise much thematic depth. The film promised to be an action-packed adaptation of the hit game franchise, and on these points it definitely delivered. The chances the ending would contain some kind of deeper meaning or convey a moral message or social commentary were always slim. Uncharted 2 or future sequels may re-address this and use the ending of their stories as a vehicle to make a statement of some kind, but the first film in the franchise did not.

How The Uncharted Ending Was Received

Responses Were Mixed

Across the board, the response from both critics and viewers to the 2022 Uncharted movie were divisive. The movie currently sits with a 41% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, though the audience rating is much stronger at 89%. Divisive is definitely the optimum word too, as for every critic that panned Uncharted, there was one who celebrated Tom Holland’s turn as Nathan Drake. For example, Erik Kain of Forbes тιтled his review “The Critics Must Be Crazy: Tom Holland’s ‘Uncharted’ Movie Is Great“, and takes the time to point out how the harsher reviews from many of his peers felt unfair.

However, the ending of the 2022 Uncharted movie didn’t really factor into many reviews, whether they were positive or negative. This is unsurprising, since the plot of Uncharted took a back seat to the action and spectacle. As Erik Klain puts it in his review:

“[Uncharted] sits nicely in the “big cinematic action-adventure-treasure-heist” genre that the Uncharted games occupy. The story isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s perfectly fine and entertaining. There’s plenty of double-crossing, lots of jaw-dropping action and a good dose of humor throughout.”

However, there are some reviews that surprisingly, since they were incredibly negative overall, pointed to the final moments as some of the most redeeming scenes. For example, Nick De Semlyen of Empire describes the closing scene as more-or-less the only part of the movie he enjoyed:

“Only the final 20 minutes, with a pirate-ship battle that takes to the skies, lives up to the giddy, inventive spectacle of the source material. Otherwise, Uncharted plods around an all-too-familiar map.”

Overall, the 2022 Uncharted movie was far from the critical or box-office success it could have been. However, when it comes to reasons why it wasn’t the hit many were expecting, the ending isn’t at fault.