Now that creator Hideo Kojima has parted ways with Konami, Metal Gear Solid is on ice. The company attempted to produce a game without him, but spinoff Metal Gear Survive was panned on release and sold terribly. As such, five years after the last full entry, there are no plans for any future titles in the series. The last flickering flame is that the movie adaptation by Jordan Vogt-Roberts is apparently still in development at Sony Pictures.
Vogt-Roberts has been working on this for years, regularly posting concept art, marking significant anniversaries with fan videos and hinting at casting. But now, Kojima himself has chipped in by revealing he’s spotted the perfect actor to play Solid Snake, saying:
“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, he’d be a spitting image of Solid Snake!”
Telling that to fans could only lead to one thing, and soon enough, photoshopped images of Marinelli in the iconic bandana were appearing on social media. The best of the bunch came from (who else?) BossLogic, who accompanied his image with the text: “He sure knows how to pick’em.”
But will the Metal Gear Solid movie ever happen? I hope it does, if only because I’d love to see something new from one of my favorite media franchises. I’ve been playing through the entire series from start to finish over the last year and there’s nothing quite like these games. With Kojima’s latest, Death Stranding, having just hit PC, we now face a long wait for his next effort. So, what about shiny new next-generation remakes of classic 8-bit MSX titles Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake?
In the meantime, let’s hope Sony Pictures is moving forward on Metal Gear Solid and has Marinelli’s agent’s number.