Hideo Kojima May Have Foreshadowed Death Stranding 2’s Solid Snake Lookalike Years Ago

In typical Hideo Kojima fashion, a new trailer and the release date for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach was dropped out of the blue on a random Sunday evening. The trailer is filled with big mysteries, key story beats, and celebrity cameos, and the internet has already begun to unpack things.

The trailer confirmed that Sam and Fragile are, in fact, an item, but one appearance has got fans talking more than most.

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Towards the end of the ten-minute epic, an unknown character dons a bandanna, looking suspiciously like Metal Gear’s Solid Snake in the process, and in a weird act of foreshadowing, the new character is played by Luca Marinelli, somebody Hideo Kojima tipped to play Snake five years ago.

Hideo Kojima Always Wanted Luca Marinelli To Play Solid Snake

Including the actual Solid Snake in Death Stranding 2 could be tricky, given that Konami owns the rights to the character and the franchise he stars in, but that’s not stopped Kojima from including somebody who looks very much like him in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

Complete with a chiseled jaw, stylish stubble, and a camo headband, this new character is a spitting image and is clearly, at minimum, a reference to the games that really kickstarted Kojima’s career.

The plot thickens, though, and fans aren’t sure what’s happening as an old Instagram post of Kojima’s has resurfaced, in which he says Marinelli would be a “spitting image of Solid Snake!”

In 2020, Kojima said, “There are many actors that I follow. Luca Marinelli recently caught my eye after watching The Old Guard and Martin Eden. He played an impressive villain in They Call Me Jeeg Robot, but I think that he will break out soon, and his popularity will increase. Also, I think if he donned a bandana [sic], he’d be a spitting image of Solid Snake!”

A few moments later, after some more footage of Marinelli’s Snake-like character, the trailer reveals a giant creature with a mech for a head. While not identical, it bears similarities to the Metal Gear from the Konami franchise.

It’s highly unlikely Kojima has got the license to include anything Metal Gear-related in Death Stranding 2, but it’s fun to speculate as to what the situation is with this new character.

Systems

Released

June 26, 2025

ESRB

m

Publisher(s)

Sony Online Entertainment