Nolan North Lets Loose On Star Wars, The Last of Us 2

The most pertinent question surrounding the Nolan North Metrocon 2015 panel isn’t about what gaming project insight he provided, but more so what gaming project didn’t he talk about? The prolific voice actor sounded off on a number of questions at the panel this past weekend, including some on Amy Hennig’s Star Wars game, Uncharted 4 and the possibility of a new title in The Last of Us’ series.

First off, let’s dive in with the new Star Wars game. As many know, Amy Hennig (Uncharted series writer/director) departed from Naughty Dog last year in order to join Visceral Games to create a mystery Star Wars title; all within the span of one month. While details surrounding the project remain mysterious, Nolan North seems to be the first to tease details about the game. Despite the revelation that Hennig will “reboot a brand new Star Wars franchise in the style of Uncharted,” I’m not sure how you can reboot something brand new! Either way, it seems the new Star Wars game will carry some of the tenets that we saw in Star Wars 1313 footage.

Going back to Uncharted, Nolan North notes that when she first left Naughty Dog (as well as Uncharted 4), 8 months of her story shot for motion capture “was all thrown away.” The reason of this was that Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley took over the Uncharted 4 project in the middle of production, opting to go with their own story and work with some of their own familiar team members. It’s where the addition of Nathan Drake’s brother (voiced by fellow prominent VA Troy Baker) came in, according to North, which should provide for an interesting departure from what was previously source material.

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Finally, near the end of the hour-plus panel, Nolan North may have tipped his hand too heavily into Naughty Dog’s plans. When asked about any future work with Naughty Dog, North conceded that this is the last currently scheduled with them. “I know they’re doing The Last of Us 2,” he noted, before reminding audience members that he is not likely to return to the series. While the overwhelming superiority of The Last of Us makes it a no-brainer of a series to return to, this may be the first public acknowledgment from someone in the games industry that such a sequel might be in the works.

It should be noted, however, that voice actors like Nolan North get told about the possibility of upcoming projects all the time. As much as it makes sense to do another The Last of Us game, financially, we’re still about 8-9 months away from Uncharted 4 being released. Naughty Dog is big enough to hold multiple teams, granted, but just because one voice actor (who admittedly isn’t likely to return to the series) says a game is being made, doesn’t guarantee it will come out anytime soon, if at all.

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