A24’s Death Stranding Film Will Tell Original Story, Not Adapt Game

Okay, listen up, the Death Stranding movie is trying something bold. Not a remake. Not a retread. Not a straight retelling of Sam Porter Bridges’ journey. Nope, this one aims for an original story in that eerie, haunting world. And as a fan of weird games, strange worlds, and cinematic chills, yes, I am excited.

Here’s what we know: A24 is producing the film, and Michael Sarnoski (director of A Quiet Place: Day One) is at the helm. He’s not approaching this like a translator. His pitch is more ambitious. He wants to capture the soul of Death Stranding, its themes, its tone, its emotional texture, but tell us a narrative we haven’t seen before, by characters we haven’t walked beside. The kinds of ideas that should make longtime fans and newcomers both lean forward in their seats.

That means no forcing the entire game into a two-hour movie (thankfully). It means embracing the universe’s weirdness , the connection, the loneliness, the specters that lurk beyond the borders of life and death while letting new faces live the story. In practice, this means the movie could explore corners of this post-apocalyptic world we’ve only glimpsed. Ghost towns. Ruined highways. BT phenomena. Fragile psychic echoes. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll broaden what Death Stranding means.

Kojima’s role? He’s still in the mix. He’ll supervise, consult, ensure the lore integrity holds. But Sarnoski is being trusted to push forward. Kojima himself has acknowledged that trying to cram Death Stranding’s 70-plus hours of narrative and exploration into a film would be a disaster. Better to let the film breathe. Better to lean into new veins, new paths. And with A24 behind it, a studio used to weird, audacious narratives; this could be just the kind of experiment that works.

Also kicking around in the same announcement? An animated Death Stranding film titled Mosquito, also pushing original stories in this universe. So the franchise is expanding on multiple axes. One foot in live action, one foot in animation. One path familiar, one path unknown. All roads lead through the strange territory between life and death, connection and isolation.

But here’s what gets me hyped: if done right, this approach could reinvent what a “game adaptation” means. Not just replicating what players already know, but building new narrative branches that enhance the lore. It can bring fresh emotional stakes and allow surprises. It’s not bound to the beats we already played; it’s free to surprise, shock, terrify, and move us.

Of course, danger lurks too. It has to feel Death Stranding. If the world, the mood, the trauma, the eerie ambient weight isn’t there, fans will revolt. It can’t be just a sci-fi thriller with ghost monsters. It needs the contemplative melancholy, the weight of isolation, the scars of connection. It needs the weirdness that lingers long after the credits.

No cast is confirmed. No release date is locked in. For now, the promise is the vibe: daring, odd, resonant. If you love a story that haunts you, that lingers, that whispers rather than screams, this is one to watch. Let’s hope that Death Stranding: the Movie becomes not just a footnote in the adaptation catalogue, but a beacon for how to translate game worlds into new narrative realms.