‘Weird changes’ and upheaval at Naughty Dog caused Alan Tudyk to leave Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

There was an upheaval at Naughty Dog over a year ago while development on Uncharted 4 was well under way. Amy Hennig, the writer and director behind Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception left the game studio, along with Game Director Justin Richmond (Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves).

Amidst their departure there were rumors that the reason Hennig left was due to regrettable exchanges with  Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley – Naughty Dog denied this. Whatever the reason was behind Hennig and Richmond leaving, one thing was clear, Naughty Dog would need to do a lot of work on Uncharted 4.

According to Star Wars: Rogue One and Firefly's Alan Tudyk, Hennig and Richmond's departure allowed Naughty Dog to take the Uncharted 4 story in a different direction. Tudyk and Todd Stashwick had been working as voice actors on Uncharted 4 during the leadership change – ultimately, they took the the opportunity and left the project due to the changes going on at Naughty Dog and in Uncharted 4.

"I liked it… they… ummm… they fired… ummm… [lets out a massive sigh] I left, I quit! [laughs] So, I didn't like it," said Tudyk to IGN. "I mean, I left because they decided to go a different way with it and so when they did that, when they changed leadership, it made my contract null and void and I was able to take that opportunity to walk away which was great because I got the experience of doing it, I made some friends – not with Naughty Dog – but I made some friends with the people that left.

"Todd Stashwick was in that as well, who is in Con Man, and he did the same thing I did which was 'yeah we're gonna leave now. Y'all are making some weird changes, we're gonna leave'. Sorry Nolan, we left you, we just walked away, we abandoned him."

Once Uncharted 4: A Thief's End releases on March 18th on the PS4 we will get a better look at the direction Naughty Dog decided to go with.