Death Stranding creator and serial face collector Hideo Kojima once said his game belonged to a genre of its own, the world’s first “strand” game. A film adaptation would, by the transitive property, then be the first “strand” film. Behold history as it is made: Death Stranding is going to become a movie, the first of its kind, even if no one can really say what that means yet.
Death Stranding’s cinematic adaptation will be co-produced by Barbarian’s executive producer Alex Lebovici and Kojima himself. While the film is said to be fast-tracked, there is currently no director, writer, or plot synopsis available — just the note that the film will “introduce new elements and characters within the Death Stranding universe,” per a press release.
As Death Stranding’s in-game cast largely comprises characters played by Hollywood stars like Mads Mikkelsen and Norman Reedus, it would make sense for the film to follow new characters — even BB, the infant in the strange yellow capsule, has probably aged out of the role.
That said, it’s not like there isn’t a whole mess of big ideas to explore — Kojima’s story about a courier connecting a post-apocalyptic America haunted by apparitions from beyond is compelling stuff, enough so that the announcement of a sequel, Death Stranding 2, was one of the more exciting things revealed during this year’s Game Awards.
It would just be a shame if Kojima could not write or direct. He’s been telling us for years now that 70% of his body is made of movies, after all.
