DEATH STRANDING Is Getting an Anime Adaptation and Hideo Kojima Says It’s Just the Beginning

Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid and the wildly unconventional Death Stranding has confirmed that his genre-defying post-apocalyptic game isn’t just headed to the big screen, it’s also being adapted into an anime.

In a recent interview with Vogue Japan, Kojima casually dropped the news while discussing the upcoming Death Stranding movie, which is being developed with indie powerhouse A24:

“I am also currently working with A24 on a live-action film adaptation of DEATH STRANDING. When it comes to film adaptations of games, there have been recent films like The Last of Us that keep the plot of the original intact, and films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie that are more like a service to game fans.

“Each of these works has its own merits, but as a film lover, I want to pursue expression as a film. I am aiming to make DEATH STRANDING in a way that can only be done as a film, and that will win awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. In fact, we are also currently working on an anime adaptation.”

Kojima is clearly thinking beyond just games and prestige cinema. He’s aiming to build Death Stranding into a multi-platform storytelling universe.

Right now, the anime details are mostly under wraps. No studio has been attached, and we don’t yet know if it’ll be a straight adaptation of the original game or if it’ll dive into the deeper mythology of the Stranding universe.

Considering Kojima’s love of expansive world-building and surreal imagery, there’s definitely room to explore the characters, prequel elements, or even completely original storylines within this world.

Kojima also talked a bit more about the future of the IP in that same interview, explaining:

“To strengthen our IP, we’re doing a sequel, and this is a game and we’ll continue to add more to various platforms. What comes next are different forms of media – movies, anime, TV dramas, etc. Basically, expanding the game IP to other media. That’s the second phase. That’s what we’re aiming for next.”

This “second phase” Kojima mentions kicks off next month with the release of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, which drops June 26th. That sequel is expected to further explore the story of Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) and the strange world still trying to reconnect after a supernatural extinction event.

Meanwhile, the live-action film version of Death Stranding is being written and directed by Michael Sarnoski (Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One), and if that team-up wasn’t enough to raise eyebrows, Kojima is openly gunning for Cannes and Venice.

No release window has been announced yet for the anime, but given the scale of Kojima’s ambitions, you can expect something visually awesome and narratively ambitious.

We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more on this project as it develops.