Kojima first learned of Marinelli through his role in the Italian film They Call Me Jeeg, and a correspondence sprung up around the Japanese distribution of the film Martin Eden.

When talking about the original Death Stranding, Kojima said, "The game was about connection," which we knew. However, Kojima wasn’t the most confident about his future, adding,

Hideo Kojima discusses casting a major new character for Death Stranding 2 and how he hopes to surpass Mads Mikkelson's role in the original.