Bill Skarsgård, best known for portraying Pennywise in Andy Muschietti’s It universe and Count Orlok in Nosferatu, has been announced as the lead star of Hideo Kojima’s upcoming action-espionage game Physint.
The news was announced this morning at the tail end of Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show 2026 showcase, alongside a new behind-the-scenes look at Kojima Productions’ upcoming horror title OD – KNOCK. It’s the first update on the highly-anticipated spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid since PlayStation’s big breakup with Kojima that led Physint to be signed by Xbox. The director said the upcoming projects is continuing to “make steady progress.”
Beyond news of Skarsgård casting, the announcement featured at TGS 2026 was relatively light on PHYSINT-related details. However, Kojima did offer a glowing endorsement of Skarsgård’s work in a press release on Kojima Productions’ website.
“I’m delighted to confirm the lead role for Physint will be Bill Skarsgård,” stated Kojima. “We are both long-time fans of each other’s work, and we’ve decided to embark on this new adventure together. The costume fittings, scans, and camera tests we conducted with Bill and Charlee earlier this year gave me tremendous confidence in the direction of the project.”
Skarsgård will be joining Don Lee, Minami Hamabe, and Charlee Fraser on the project, but it sounds like Kojima isn’t quite finished with Physint‘s casting. Prior to Skarsgård’s reveal, Kojima stated that the team is still “making progress on casting, talent scans, and collaborations with outside creators.”
Likewise, in a press release on the Xbox Wire blog, Xbox stated that its collaboration with Kojima Productions “also extends beyond games,” and that the two companies are “working together across film and television to bring new stories to broader audiences.”
That might not sound that juicy, but it is a curious tidbit to throw in at the end of the press release, as Kojima previously expressed excitement at working with Sony’s Columbia Pictures for Physint’s multimedia elements.
