Death Stranding community speculates arrival of a sequel after recent Elle Fanning teases

Although there's still no official confirmation regarding the sequel to Death Stranding, the recent tease from Hideo Kojima has gotten fans speculating. A few days ago, Kojima revealed that the earlier silhouetted figure he had shared was Elle Fanning. He further shared a couple of images of her that fans have connected to the world of the 2019 Strand game.

Death Stranding puts players in the footsteps of a delivery personnel, Sam, in a post-apocalyptic world where an event called Stranding has driven people to live in isolated bunkers called Knots. The core mechanism of the game is to deliver packages from one place to another and try to reconnect the country while doing so.

Although released in 2019, the game's world and gameplay hauntingly mirrored the global pandemic that affected everyone in 2020. Death Stranding was a pleasantly bewildering title from Hideo Kojima that to some pushed the boundaries of its medium and to others was merely a walking simulator.

A sequel has been rumored for some time now with assertions from Norman Reedus, who plays the protagonist, and cryptic tweets from Kojima. The recent development further hints towards there being one in the works.

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Death Stranding community links recent Elle Fanning teases to Lou from the game

Kojima Productions had earlier shared a silhouette picture of a woman with the words "Who am I?", and later "Where am I?", on top of her last month. The post was also shared by Geoff Keighley. Fans were quickly able to decipher that the person in the picture is actor Elle Fanning, although nothing more was gleaned.

Hideo Kojima recently revealed the sihouetted figure as Elle Fanning and later posted some images that featured the actress in odd exuberant poses. Kojima fans, who are quite adept at deducing and drawing implications from the auteur's cryptic posts, quickly noted that her poses are actually familiar.

Both of the poses match those made by Lou in-game. In Death Stranding, Lou was the bridge baby that accompanied Sam during the entirety of the game and the protagonist, and the players, became increasingly attached to it. With the latest images shared by Kojima, players speculate that Elle Fanning will play the adult Lou in-game.

If that turns out to be true, it may also mean that the sequel to Death Stranding will focus on adult Lou, while Norman Reedus' Sam will take a backseat. Earlier this year, the latter revealed in an interview that they had "just started part two" with Kojima responding by telling him to go to his private room - a reference to Death Stranding.

Yet, it must be kept in mind that nothing has been officially confirmed by Kojima regarding the sequel yet. While the theory regarding the latest pictures and Lou does seem viable, it may just well be a reference to some other project being helmed by the game designer. Earlier this year, it was announced that Kojima is working with Xbox on a project.

Fans have been patiently waiting for official confirmation regarding Death Stranding 2 for some time now. These teases merely further the hype and anticipation surrounding it. Be it the aforementioned sequel or some other game, one can only hope that Kojima Productions will announce their next title soon.