Kojima Productions confirmed that Elle Fanning is to appear in the studio's next game in October, following the reveal of a cryptic poster that was captioned "Who Am I?" that was shared by the studio in September. Now, as a guest on Hideo Kojima's Brain Structure podcast the actress chatted with the Japanese game designer about her role in the upcoming Death Stranding 2. Elle Fanning hails from Georgia, USA, and has appeared in Maleficient, Super 8, We Bought A Zoo, and Mary Shelley, among others. On the podcast, it was revealed the 24-year-old is also set to have a central role in Kojima's sequel (via TheGameSpoof). And it seems the Japanese games developer has been following Fanning's career for some time. Kojima revealed that he's an Elle Fanning fan and that he's been watching her career unfold since she popped up in J.J. Abrams 2011 science fiction feature Super 8. But how did Fanning come to get a part in the original Death Stranding? Kojima is friends with Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn who directed her in 2016 thriller Neon Demon, which helped the two to connect. Kojima then got in touch with Fanning. Here is Elle picking up the story, via the podcast:
"Nicolas told me 'Hideo is a genius and he wants you to be on his game', and that it would be an amazing experience. To which I said to myself that I wanted to be a part of it. We had a conversation on Zoom and you [Kojima] told me a lot of secrets about the story of Death Stranding 2 that I obviously won't reveal".
While Fanning may have films and TV in her bones considering how natural a performer she is, the actress revealed that she's not much of a gamer, having no real liking for them, but now she is experiencing them as a production. "I was really intrigued by the character that you asked me to play, I really wanted to do it," Fanning added.
Kojima mentioned that while he has been watching Fanning's performances for years it was her starring role in 2017's Mary Shelley that confirmed to him that she should get a central part in Death Stranding 2. Death Stranding 2 appears to be exclusively being developed for the PlayStation 5, with other versions not yet confirmed, while rumours suggest we may see the game debut in 2024.