Today, during an online broadcast dedicated to the tenth anniversary of Kojima Productions, Hideo Kojima and director Michael Sarnoski confirmed that the Death Stranding film from A24 will not be a retelling of the events of the games, but will offer a new story in the universe.
"I think with this, we really want to, you know, make something that captures the soul of the games, its themes, but also tell something that you haven't seen before in the world and introduce characters that you haven't met before. And also, you know, just kind of expand on it, but also, you know, kind of live within the scale of it, and also, you know, show these incredible real-world locations, and also, you know, the intimate character work, and really kind of pay tribute to it on a macro and micro scale."
During the broadcast, Kojima noted that compressing the original Death Stranding story into a two-hour film would be too difficult a task. That is why he was looking for a director who could both direct and write the script in order to create his own space in this universe.
"We're trying to find a different story within that universe that will be accessible to people who have never played the games before, but will also reward people that know the lore. So it's kind of finding that balance and telling a human story within this world that captures everything that we love about it, but can also exist as its own thing."
The release date of the film has not yet been announced. The full cast is also unknown. Since this is a new story, viewers can expect new characters, although Sarnoski's statements do not exclude the appearance of familiar characters, such as Norman Reedus as Sam Porter or Léa Seydoux as Fragile.