A Death Stranding anime is in the pipeline.
The news was confirmed by the game’s creator Hideo Kojima when discussing the upcoming live-action Death Stranding film with Vogue Japan, casually slipping in an anime adaption is also in the works.
“I am currently working with A24 on a live-action film adaptation of Death Stranding,” Kojima said (translated by VGC). “When it comes to adapting games into visual media, there are works like The Last of Us, which stays true to the original storyline, and films like The Super Mario Bros Movie which are more of a service to fans of the game.
“While these works have their own merits, as a film enthusiast, I want to pursue the expressive potential of cinema. I aim to create a Death Stranding that can only be realised through film, one that could win awards at festivals like the Cannes Film Festival or the Venice Film Festival. In fact, we are also currently working on an anime adaptation.”
So, there you have it! One Death Stranding anime coming up, although for now we don’t know when.
As for the film adaptation, Kojima announced his company was partnering with A24 in December 2023. A24 is the production and distribution company behind the likes of Everything Everywhere All At One and Hereditary, so it sounds like a good match for Kojima.
More recently, it was reported A Quiet Place: Day One’s Michael Sarnoski was attached to write and direct the Death Stranding adaptation.
But, while all of this is going on behind the scenes, we have Death Stranding’s sequel releasing via PS5 next month, on 25th June.
“Death Stranding 2 is clearly a labour of love, filled with carefully balanced gameplay systems, exceptional visuals, and extraneous details and secret scenes,” our Ed wrote in Eurogamer’s Death Stranding 2 preview. “I still don’t know why we shouldn’t have connected, but in this instance I’m glad I did.”