A24's Death Stranding film isn't a direct adaptation, will tell an "original story" set in the world of the games
"We really want to capture the soul of the game".
Tonight, as part of the Kojima Productions 10th Anniversary livestream, called Beyond the Strand, we got a new update on the Death Stranding movie. Notably, the project is not going to be a direct adaptation, but an original story set in the world of Sam Porter Bridges, Fragile, and the other characters we recognise from the games.
Michael Sarnoski took to the stage to join Kojima to talk about the project (now that he's wrapped work on A Quiet Place: Day One). Sarnoski noted that the movie will include new characters and focus on a new plot, though beyond that, details are fairly sparse."I think, with this project, we really want to capture the soul of the game, capture the themes of the game, but tell a story you haven’t seen in that world and explore characters you haven’t seen before, and find all of that scope and all of those incredible real locations, but also find all of those nuanced characters and just do justice to this on a macro and micro scale," Sarnoski noted on-stage.
Kojima is too busy to direct the film himself - unsurprisingly - but the storied developer added that he is, at least, "deeply involved" in the production of the title.
We're also getting an animated movie, alongside A24's live-action effort. The animation, named Mosquito, which will also tell an original story. The name relates to one of the main characters who has the ability to 'take something from you', like a mosquito takes blood.
Check out the trailer below.
The animation project will be written by Aaron Guzikowski, the writer behind Denis Villenue's Prisoners and the creator of Raised by Wolves.
"I love the world of Death Stranding, it's so creatively freeing, so beautifully dark and yet hopeful; I'm so excited and honoured that Hideo Kojima, whose work I've long admired, has invited me to dwell within his creation, to birth new stories into this fertile, mind-bending universe," says Raised by Wolves creator Aaron Guzikowski, who is penning the script for the animated feature.
It's clear the Death Stranding series has some life in it yet, and even with games like OD and Physint on the way from Kojima Studios, the storied developer is a long way from giving up on this particular baby, just yet.