Is Keanu Reeves In Death Stranding After His Recent Studio Visit? Hideo Kojima Explains

Two things are truer than ever right now: Keanu Reeves is on fire and we're all breathtaking. It's also a well-known fact that Hideo Kojima is continually revealing new partnerships with Hollywood talent as Death Stranding nears its release date. A recent photo of him and John Wick's Keanu Reeves standing in the luminous entryway to Kojima Productions' Tokyo office sparked a flurry of what-ifs across social media--would he get scanned in Kojima's unusually well-known body scanning rig and wind up in the game? He is appearing in CD Project Red's upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 next year, so Reeves being in a video game isn't out of the question. Back in July, Kojima said Keanu wasn't in the game, but with that recent studio visit in mind, has that changed? We asked Kojima himself during TGS.

Rather than cut to the chase, Kojima explained that even though he wasn't able to work with Reeves on this project, there was a time when he seriously considered approaching the actor to take up the role that was originally designed for Mads Mikkelsen, a story he mentioned in the past, but went into more detail about during our chat.

"Keanu is a great guy," said Kojima. "I have a close friend, Nicolas Refn, he introduced me to Mads and I made an offer to Mads to be in the game. I went to Denmark and talked to Nicolas again before I gave the offer to Mads, and I said I met Mads a couple of times but I really wanted to reconfirm with Nicolas that I really should work with him. Nicolas said, 'He's great, but the best guy is Keanu,' and he was doing Neon Demon at that time. So he was trying to persuade me to use Keanu, and I thought maybe I will change from Mads to Keanu."

Kojima also recounted a time when he asked for an outside opinion on the matter. "We were having this dinner, and there was this chef," Kojima recalled," and I told him that I'm thinking of using Mads, and asked what he thought. Even the chef said maybe Keanu is better, even though he liked Mads a lot. But I did write the character for Mads, imagining him, so I am very happy that I offered it to Mads in the end."

Judging from the bits and pieces that Kojima has shown of Mads in Death Stranding, his menacing stare and calm demeanor seem like the perfect fit for the game's atmosphere. It's anyone's guess as to how Keanu would have fared, but one things for sure: Kojima won't give up on partnering with Keanu anytime soon. "So as I said, Keanu is a great guy, and in the future it would be great if we could work together. It could be a game, or maybe a movie or TV show I might work on, so maybe next time. But I want to say Mads is really great. When I met Keanu, I was shocked that he was so polite; a real good guy. Were are only one year apart in age, so the appreciation towards a lot of things are similar, I think. So in the future, I would like to offer something to Keanu."

GameSpot was able to talk to Kojima about a number of topics during TGS, including whether or not he foresees a sequel to Death Stranding down the road. This interview came in the middle of Kojima's run of appearances on the TGS show floor, which gave him a chance to deliver presentations of the game to help clear the air and prepare for the upcoming launch. This includes a massive Death Stranding gameplay demo, and a second, more intimate look into the private life of Norman Reedus' character, Sam Porter Bridges. And before all of this, he revealed a new trailer, which primarily serves as a Death Stranding story briefing.