Hideo Kojima and director Michael Sarnoski have confirmed that A24’s Death Stranding movie will tell a new story instead of retelling the events of the games.
“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," Sarnoski said, "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.”
Kojima suggested during the broadcast that there were concerns about shrinking the original Death Stranding story down into a two-hour movie. That's why he sought out a filmmaker who could both direct and write the project to carve out their own spot in that universe.
"We’re trying to find another story that you’ve never seen in this same universe that is both accessible to people that have never played these games before but will also give something to people that know the games really well," Sarnoski continued. "I think finding that balance and finding a way to tell a human story in this world that captures everything that we love about it, as well as being able to stand on its own two feet, is really the goal.”
"I was terrified by the idea of taking something this big on, especially after A Quiet Place, which was a really big endeavor," Sarnoski added. "But it was after meeting Kojima-san and talking to A24 that I realized how much freedom they were willing to give me on this project. Kojima-san is a true artist, and he really wants ot support other artists, and he’s letting me play in this sandbox and in this world as much as I wanted."