Uncharted movie to be helmed by Stranger Things director Shawn Levy

A big screen adaptation of Naughty Dog's swashbuckling Uncharted series is being fast-tracked to release and has a new director at the helm. Shawn Levy will take charge of the project that has been in development hell for some time.

Levy is best known for Real Steel and Night at the Museum but this summer directed multiple episodes of hit Netflix series Stranger Things which he also executively produced. He'll return to direct more episodes of the show's second season.

According to Deadline, Sony Pictures is eager to get the project moving after its latest director – Joe Carnahan – moved over to direct Bad Boys For Life, a sequel to the hit buddy cop series starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

A fourth instalment of the hit PlayStation series launched earlier this year, capping off the story of adventurer Nathan Drake, a John McClane-meets-Indiana Jones kind of character. Ahead of the release of Uncharted 4, Sony Interactive Entertainment president Shawn Layden revealed that the series had "sold more than 28 million copies".

Producer Avi Arad has been discussing an Uncharted movie since 2008. In the years since several writers have had a crack at a script or have been asked, including American Hustle's David O Russell, who was also once in line to direct. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were also asked to write the film, but declined.

Mark Wahlberg was once attached to play Drake in the O Russell version of the film, while Nathan Fillion has expressed his interest in the part. Jurassic World star Chris Pratt was reportedly also in talks, but declined the offer.

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