Bill Skarsgård will play the lead role in PHYSINT, Hideo Kojima’s upcoming action-espionage game from Kojima Productions. The casting was announced during Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show 2026 broadcast on September 17, where Kojima also revealed new project artwork featuring Skarsgård alongside Charlee Fraser. Xbox confirmed the news shortly afterward through Xbox Wire.
Kojima said Skarsgård and Fraser had already completed costume fittings, scans and camera tests earlier this year, giving the studio confidence in the project’s direction. Skarsgård is best known internationally for playing Pennywise in It and It: Chapter Two, while his wider film work includes Nosferatu, Barbarian, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Crow and Boy Kills World. His casting adds another prominent film actor to a project that Kojima has repeatedly described as sitting between games and cinema.
PHYSINT’s ensemble already includes Charlee Fraser, Don Lee and Minami Hamabe, with Kojima saying more casting announcements are still to come. Fraser appeared in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, while Don Lee is known for films including Train to Busan and Eternals. Hamabe has appeared in Godzilla Minus One and a number of Japanese film and television productions.
The new poster is also one of the clearest visual updates on PHYSINT since the project changed publishing partners. Earlier this month, Xbox confirmed it will publish PHYSINT after Sony ended its involvement, expanding Microsoft’s relationship with Kojima Productions beyond OD. Xbox and the studio have also said their partnership will extend into film and television projects in addition to games.
PHYSINT was originally announced as a PlayStation project, with Kojima positioning it as a new action-espionage experience that would draw on the type of design he became known for through Metal Gear. Sony’s withdrawal from the project in 2026 forced Kojima Productions to find a new partner, and Xbox stepped in shortly afterward. Microsoft has not yet announced platforms, a release window or a final subtitle for the game.
The project remains in active development, and Kojima Productions has still shared very little about its actual gameplay structure. Its official description continues to emphasize action and espionage, while Kojima has said the project is intended to blur the line between games and film through technology, performance and presentation. The latest casting announcement reinforces that direction without revealing how Skarsgård’s character will function in the story.
Skarsgård’s involvement was announced as the final surprise of Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show 2026 broadcast, which also included updates on OD – KNOCK. Kojima showed behind-the-scenes performance-capture footage for OD featuring Sophia Lillis and Hunter Schafer, while PHYSINT’s segment focused primarily on casting and the new poster.
Xbox has now become a central partner on both of Kojima Productions’ major upcoming projects. OD remains the studio’s experimental horror title developed with Xbox, while PHYSINT is being positioned as a larger action-espionage project with a substantial film-industry cast. The addition of Skarsgård gives the latter its first confirmed lead performer and offers a clearer sense of the production scale Kojima is targeting.
No release date has been announced for PHYSINT, and Xbox has not yet confirmed when gameplay will be shown. For now, Bill Skarsgård joins Charlee Fraser, Don Lee and Minami Hamabe as the confirmed cast while Kojima Productions continues development under its expanded partnership with Xbox.
