Kojima’s ‘Death Stranding Isolations’ Gets New Disney+ Teaser

Kojima Productions has released a new teaser and story details for Death Stranding Isolations, its upcoming hand-drawn animated series set in Hideo Kojima’s post-apocalyptic video game universe. The studio also announced that popular sci-fi author Tow Ubukata is handling series composition and screenwriting.

The studio unveiled the update during its 10th anniversary celebration at Tokyo’s Azabudai Hills Gallery. The series is scheduled to premiere sometime in 2027 on Disney+.

Directed by Takayuki Sano, Isolations is being animated in traditional 2D by E&H Production, whose credits include Ninja Kamui and Bullet/Bullet. Kojima serves as executive producer, with original character designs by Ilya Kuvshinov.

The series delivers an original story set in the same world as Kojima’s games, where encounters between the living and the dead have triggered catastrophic explosions, which leave survivors scattered and isolated. Its new synopsis opens with a blunt introduction to that reality: “My mom became a crater.”

Set in North America, protagonist Sam reconnects the continent through the Chiral Network. Isolations explores the unforeseen consequences of those renewed connections. At its center is a woman who has grown to embrace solitude, rejecting opportunities for human contact until chance encounters pull her into an unfamiliar world.

In a release following the announcement, Sano described the responsibility he felt in extending Kojima’s established world:

One of the unique abilities of entertainment is its power to enhance the spirituality of those who consume it, and I think this is something that Mr. Kojima’s works have always achieved. As a result, I approached this production with an exceptionally strong sense of duty and responsibility. I knew that no matter what, I needed to accomplish the same thing.

Ubukata’s addition comes with significant sci-fi clout. His novel, Mardock Scramble, won the Nihon SF Taisho Award in 2003, while his historical novel Tenchi Meisatsu received Japan’s Booksellers’ Award in 2010. His work spans novels, games, comics, and animation.

First announced last November, Isolations is one of several animated expansions of the franchise. Kojima Productions has also announced the anime feature Death Stranding: Mosquito, directed by Hiroshi Miyamoto at ABC Animation Studio, and an adult animated feature developed with Los Angeles-based Line Mileage.