Uncharted 4 Development Set Back Eight Months By Amy Hennig's Departure, Says Voice Actor

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End lost eight months of work when series writer Amy Hennig left developer Naughty Dog.

Speaking during a panel held at Metrocon, voice actor Nolan North indicated that the project was reworked when The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley took over.

According to North, the development team had "shot eight months of her story and it was all thrown away."

"Amy is still a very dear friend of mine and she's brilliant," North continued. "But the Last of Us guys were the next team there, so they took over and they just wanted their own flavour. They got rid of some of the other people that were involved and just redid their thing."

Discussing the changes, North said Uncharted 4 will "be fun," but added "the tone is going to be slightly different" from Hennig's original vision.

"It has to be, you know," he said. "You can't have a Robert Ludlum novel that's going to be the same as Stephen King. It's just that they're different styles. But it's true to the story."

Elaborating on the direction the project went following Hennig's departure, North said the story is still "going to be along the same lines," but he didn't know anything beyond that.

"I don't how it'll affect the [game] and to be honest, I am just as curious as everyone to see what the final product will look like."

"I do know there's trust with the Naughty Dog designers and programmers. That place is still top notch and from the things I've seen, all the stuff they've done, it's amazing."

Amy Hennig left Naughty Dog in March 2014. Though it was not confirmed, reports indicated she was allegedly "forced out" by Druckmann and Straley.

Hennig is currently co-writing a Star Wars title for EA which will be developed by Dead Space studio Visceral Games. The game will be reminiscent of LucasArts' ill-fated Star Wars: 1313 and the Uncharted series.

Following a delay, PlayStation exec Andrew House confirmed the Uncharted 4: A Thief's End's release date will arrive before April 2016.

According to its director, the PS4 exclusive will close the curtain on the story of Nathan Drake. Read GameSpot's full Uncharted 4 interview with Neil Druckmann for more on the game.