Before his stint as Nathan Drake in ‘Uncharted‘, Tom Holland had a different blockbuster dream in mind. The actor recently announced that he had pitched a James Bond project that showed the British spy as a younger man.
However, that idea never came to fruition. Instead, it became the basis for a completely different franchise.
Tom Holland Wanted To Play A Young James Bond
When discussing the concept, Holland said he envisioned a Bond origin story, which had yet to be explored on the big screen. The idea would have been for a young James Bond before he became the suave secret agent that fans know. But the ball didn’t get any further.
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Holland shared he doesn’t believe that the Bond estate was “interested” in the proposal. “I don’t think the Bond estate was particularly interested,” Holland said. In retrospect, he said, “It was the dream of a young kid. It didn’t really make sense.”
The project never had the backing of the Bond rights holders, but the experience did sow the seed for something else. It gave Holland’s team an idea for the future.
How A Failed Bond Pitch Became ‘Uncharted’
Instead of giving up on the concept completely, Holland and his team started searching for another adventure game that might be a good fit for a similar treatment. Their search brought them to the popular video game series ‘Uncharted’ and the role of Nathan Drake.
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“The idea of a young Bond film sparked this idea, in turn, that you could do a Nathan Drake story as an origin story, rather than as an adaptation of the games,” Holland explained.
The filmmakers opted not to retell the story of the popular PlayStation games and focus on a different chapter in Drake’s life. The outcome was 2022’s ‘Uncharted’, which saw Holland team up with Mark Wahlberg and brought audiences a younger version of the globe-trotting adventurer.
It’s an intriguing “what if” in Hollywood. If the Bond pitch had been accepted, then Holland’s career could have gone in a very different direction. Rather, the rejection paved the way for another big action franchise. The projects that never materialized can also be the ones that do. And for Holland, a failed attempt was the first step toward becoming Nathan Drake.
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