More and more, this is becoming the golden age for film adaptations of video game franchises — perfect timing for Death Stranding to make the leap. As we speak, the Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises are dominating while The Legend of Zelda gets ready to lace ’em up against Streets of Rage, and even Crash Bandicoot might get in on the action.
That’s not to mention the runaway success of Fallout and The Last of Us, of which Death Stranding will also compete with for the attention and adoration of audiences when the film arrives in 2027, but the latter has some tricks up its sleeve.
Arguably the biggest is that it’s being produced by none other than Hideo Kojima — the iconic mind behind the Metal Gear Solid gaming franchise and, of course, 2019’s Death Stranding and 2025’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Michael Sarnoski, writer and director of the film adaptation and the fillmaker behind Nicolas Cage’s Pig and (alongside John Krasinki) Neon’s A Quiet Place: Day One, recently spoke about what’s to come when he and Kojima join forces for the Death Stranding movie.
Death Stranding’s Script Is Nearly Complete
“I’m writing the script right now and hopefully almost done with that and really excited to dive into it,” Sarnoski told IGN. “I’ve been talking to Kojima and A24 a lot about it. They’ve read a draft. We’re working on some revisions together, and they all seem super excited and happy with it.”
He continued: “Kojima has been really generous in letting me play in his world but letting me tell a story with my own characters and my own sort of corner of this world, but keeping it honest to the game and doing something that fans will really like. So it’s been a great process so far, and I’m really excited to share it. … I was impressed that when [Kojima] read this script, without me needing to talk to him about it, he knew every single [movie] reference.
“He was like, ‘Oh, you’re doing a Come and See reference there! I see that. I like that.’ He just knows movies incredibly well. So that’s been very cool to see.”
Expect Familiar Faces, But Also Fresh Ones, in Death Stranding Film
One of the things that has helped Death Stranding stand out in the gaming space is its casting.
Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead) headlines the story and Mads Mikkelsen (Pusher II, Casino Royale, Doctor Strange) joins a cast that also includes Léa Seydoux (Dune: Part Two, No Time to Die) and several other well-known Hollywood actors in the video game, and Sanorski is having fun working through the balance of which characters from the game will make the jump to the theater versus new ones he’ll introduce.
“That’s what I loved about doing Quiet Place — that, OK, I get to play in this sandbox, but I can have my own characters,” he said. “I can explore something that’s meaningful to me. I think there are such fundamental themes in Death Stranding about connection and expression, and all of this stuff, that it was easy for me to find a character that made sense in that world that I could really dive into.”
He continued: “You might see some characters from the game pop up. But it definitely feels like something that could happen alongside the game and honors what’s going on in the game, but very much is its own thing.”
One thing is for sure, and that’s the fact that almost everything Hideo Kojima touches turns to gold, and that Sarnoski is no slouch, either, so it’s safe to say Death Stranding‘s adaptation is in great hands.
- Writers
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Hideo Kojima
- Producers
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Hideo Kojima, Allan Ungar
- Franchise(s)
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Death Stranding