Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions are working on the highly anticipated Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with the return of Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges. The first game in the series, Death Stranding, was the first project that Kojima worked on after he left Konami, and it will be adapted into a film in collaboration with A24, the film studio behind Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Nerd Reactor had the chance to chat with Reedus about Sam having a crew in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Kojima’s sense of humor, the tone of the sequel, and how he’s careful of talking about the game due to Hideo Kojima yelling at him.

“I just saw it actually but it’s crazy,” Norman Reedus tells Nerd Reactor about watching the trailer during the Saturn Awards back in February. “It’s slightly different. It’s got a sort of an aggressive tone to it. which the first game didn’t have as much. There was something passive about the first, something hopeful. This is kind of like fighting for that. It’s got more [makes rough sound] grrrrr.”

Even though Sam had help from people, he was more of a lone protagonist in the first game. With the second game, he’ll have a core group who will aid him on his mission.

“Oh, that’s bananas,” Reedus reacted to Troy Baker’s Higgs fighting with a guitar. “There’s a lot of crazy stuff in it. Yeah, but that group, that core group, that’s not just Fragile and Sam. There’s like a crew now.”

On Hideo Kojima’s sense of humor including interacting with the mirror as Sam:

“It’s just Hideo,” the actor said. “He’s got a fun nature to him, so he puts in all these little things. Yeah, that’s very Hideo though.”

Now Reedus has been more careful about what he says of Death Stranding because he doesn’t want Kojima to get mad.

“Every time I say something about that game [Death Stranding] on the internet or a talk show or whatever and Hideo hasn’t said it first, he calls and he yells at me,” Reedus explained. “So I’m not saying anything. He’s yelled at me several times.”

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach synopsis: Embark on an inspiring mission of human connection beyond the UCA. Sam—with companions by his side—sets out on a new journey to save humanity from extinction. Join them as they traverse a world beset by otherworldly enemies, obstacles and a haunting question: should we have connected? Step by step, legendary game creator Hideo Kojima changes the world once again.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be available in 2024 for the PlayStation 5.