The Death Stranding movie has taken a major step forward as it finds its director. Created by video game legend Hideo Kojima, Death Stranding is a 2019 action game that tasks players with delivering packages to isolated cities. It features well-known voice actors, including Norman Reedus, Troy Baker, Mads Mikkelsen, and Léa Seydoux. After the game’s successful release, a Death Stranding movie was first announced in December 2022 with Kojima producing. The following year, it was confirmed that the film would be a live-action movie that was in development from A24.

Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Death Stranding has now found its director. The film will be helmed by Michael Sarnoski. He will also serve as a writer on the project. Kojima Productions and A24 will still produce, with Square Peg joining on as a producer. An early summary of the Death Stranding movie states that the film will center around “the mysteries surrounding the ‘Death Stranding’ – a catastrophic series of events that blurred the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, bringing forth nightmarish creatures into a fragmented world on the brink of collapse.“

What This Means For The Death Stranding Movie

Sarnoski Has An Impressive Background

Sarnoski is an experienced director and writer, with his most recent project being the 2024 horror prequel film A Quiet Place: Day One. Prior to that, he wrote and directed the Nicolas Cage-led film Pig. Sarnoski’s work on both projects shows the director’s simultaneous ability to work within an existing franchise and to create original content. This dual focus will serve him well for Death Stranding, which will require both faithfulness to its source material and a sense of originality.

This news is also a good sign of progress in general for the Death Stranding movie adaptation. At this point, the film has been in development for several years. With Death Stranding 2 coming out later this year, audiences will be even more interested in what is in store with the film adaptation. The movie does not yet have a release date, but the more talent it gets attached, the sooner it will be able to move forward.

Our Take On This Death Stranding Update

Pig Instills Me With Confidence That Sarnoski Is The Right Choice

In my perception, Pig is the biggest indicator that Sarnoski is a good choice for Death Stranding. Though very unrelated plots, both stories focus on idiosyncratic universes that have their own unique underbellies. The oddities of Pig may not be the same oddities of the Death Stranding universe, but given Kojima has said that the film will change elements of the game, Sarnoski will have a lot of creative liberty to run with.

Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline