“We have just started the second“, launches the 53-year-old actor popularized for his role of Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead, referring to the latest creation from Kojima Productions. True awkwardness or controlled escape, it is in any case the second time that Norman Reedus is caught red-handed. In August 2021, he declared to Adorocinema that a sequel to death stranding was “currently in negotiations“, as much to say that there is enough to ask some questions.
As a reminder, Norman Reedus had initially come into contact with Hideo Kojima and video games through Guillermo Del Toro. He was then to play the leading role in Silent Hills, before the break between Kojima and Konami which caused a stir at the time. “There’s a guy called Hideo Kojima, he’ll call you, you just say yes“, had given as instructions the director, also present in death stranding in a more secondary role.
“It took me two or three years to complete all the motion capture sessions and everything. It takes a lot of work. And then the game came out, and it won all these awards, and it was a huge thing, so we just started the second part“, insists Norman Reedus, who therefore seems happy to put on the boots of Sam Porter Bridges, hero of what remains as one of the most singular big productions of his generation.
Remember that the Death Stranding license is the property of Sony Interactive Entertainment, whose role in the establishment of Kojima Productions is well known. According to Hideo Kojima, his studio is currently working on two projects, “a great game, and a game that represents a new challenge“, he said last December at Famtsu. If the first is indeed death stranding 2, the second could be a cloud-based game in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, according to information from Jeff Grubb. Faced with certain rumours, Hideo Kojima recently affirmed that his studio would remain independent.