The ending of the movie Uncharted hints at the fate of Sam Drake, but the details of his situation are shrouded in mystery. A loose adaptation of the Uncharted video game franchise of the same name tells the story of young treasure hunter Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) when he first teams up with seasoned veteran Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg). The film adapts elements of numerous games in the franchise, but is most inspired by the fourth game, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
One of the main ways Uncharted borrows from the game is the inclusion of Sam Drake, Nathan’s brother. Although Sam Drake appears almost exclusively in flashbacks and is mainly used as a plot move, Sam Drake plays a relatively important role in the movie “Uncharted”, since Nathan’s search for his missing brother is his main motivation for teaming up with Sally. The mystery of what happened to Sam is one of Uncharted’s most important storylines, especially because it’s being used to create a potential sequel.
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What happened to Sam in Uncharted Ending?
Although Nathan is told that Sam is dead, the ending of Uncharted reveals that he is alive and in prison. Sam, shrouded in shadow, writes mysterious postcards to Nathan, but nothing else is known about the fate of the character — even about who plays Sam Drake in the Uncharted credits scene. The events surrounding Sam’s incarceration are mostly not revealed in the film itself, but the video games provide a potential insight into how Sam ended up in prison.
Why is Sam in Jail at the End of Uncharted
Although the plot of the movie Uncharted does not coincide with the plot of the games, its prequel status allows sequels to match video games more. In Uncharted 4: The Thief’s Way, Sam and Nathan both end up in a Panamanian prison, following clues to the lost treasures of pirate Henry Avery. After Sam was separated during an escape attempt, he was shot and abandoned. Nathan runs away, believing that Sam is dead, but fifteen years later finds out that he survived.
Although Sally tells Tom Holland’s Drake that his brother was killed by Braddock, the scenes after the credits of Uncharted show that Sam is alive. It’s actually surprisingly similar to Sam’s fate in games, building a series of subtle parallels. It is possible that Sam survived the encounter with Braddock and then ended up in prison in search of another treasure according to the story of Uncharted 4.
The details of how Sam ended up in prison at the end of Uncharted have yet to be revealed, but the parallels between his story in the film and in the games tease that it may be true to the source material. By separating the reasons for Sam’s apparent death and his imprisonment, the sequel could explore the story of Uncharted 4 based on its own scenes after the credits of Uncharted. Whether the reason for Sam’s fate will be revealed at the end of Uncharted as a faithful copy of him from the video game remains to be seen, but this will help organically bring future films more in line with the source material.
