Ghost of Tsushima film adaptation will be "in Japanese"

Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island
(Image credit: Sucker Punch)

The director bringing Ghost of Tsushima to the big screen says the movie will be "a complete Japanese cast, in Japanese".

In an interview with Collider, Chad Stahelski further confirmed that Sony is "on board" with his plan to create an authentic Japanese experience that will be "visually stunning" and celebrate his "love of the country, love of the people, love of the language".

"Honestly, it's probably the same things that would scare the shit out of most people," Stahelski said. "It's a fantasy period piece. It's done with reverence to Akira Kurosawa, who's probably in the top five biggest influences of my life as far as film goes. 

"It's a chance to push technology and people in a story that's timeless. It's your typical mythological story of good versus evil, finding a man, watching him change the world or the world changes him. It's all the Joseph Campbell stuff that you'd love in a story. You put that in with, obviously, so I'm told I have a bit of a Samurai fetish, which is probably true from Manga and anime and stuff.

"So, I think if we did this right, it would be visually stunning," Stahelski added. "It's character driven. It's got an opportunity for great action, great looks. And honestly, we'd to try to do it, all in character. Meaning, it's a Japanese thing about the Mongols invading Tsushima island.

"A complete Japanese cast, in Japanese. Sony is so on board with backing us on that. I've been going to Japan since I was 16. 

"I have a love of the country, love of the people, love of the language," he explained. "To try to direct not only in my language, but someone else's and culturally shift my mindset to bring apart that in a cool way that still entices a Western audience."

Sucker Punch recently celebrated the anniversary of Ghost of Tsushima by revealing a host of tasty stats and tidbits about the game, including confirmation that in the two years since it launched, it has sold almost 10 million copies, we've taken a staggering 78 million photos - that's an average of 3.2 million photos a month - and visited almost 95 million Onsen. 

In case you wondered, whilst a sequel has yet to be formally confirmed, there have been some hints that Ghost of Tsushima 2 may already be in development.

In a recent update posted by the studio, the studio outlined what games were not getting a sequel, and Ghost of Tsushima 2 was very clearly absent from that list.

That said, the news isn't so good for fans of Sucker Punch's other franchises like Sly Cooper and Infamous, as in that same blog post the studio did confirm that it had "no plans" for new games in those series as it continues to focus on its current project... which may or may not be a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima.

Here's our roundup of all the upcoming video game movies.

Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter. 

Read more
Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Tsushima anime adaptation is in the works from Demon Slayer studio and Star Wars Visions creatives
Big in 2025: Ghost of Yotei
Ghost of Yotei will build on Ghost of Tsushima with guns, a gorgeous change of scenery, and "unexpected dangers"
Ghost of Tsushima sequel Ghost of Yotei reveal trailer screenshot
Ghost of Yotei: Everything we know so far about Ghost of Tsushima 2
Onimusha Way of the Sword
28 years after his death, Onimusha: Way of the Sword has recast one of Japan's most legendary actors in one of his most iconic roles
Shadow of the Colossus
15 years after it was announced, the Shadow of the Colossus film adaptation might still be made according to director – and they have a script
Sifu header
A Sifu movie is in the works at Netflix from the John Wick director
Latest in Adventure
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A will allegedly introduce 27 new Mega Evolutions, leakers claim, and we can only hope Flygon gets its chance this time
Minecraft Vibrant Visuals
16 years after Minecraft first released it's getting a modern visual upgrade with a retro lighting trick that Mojang hasn't seen "in any other game"
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Putting cigarettes in fish mouths in Thank Goodness You're Here
Thank Goodness You're Here's developer says it was trying to design a game normally before realizing "we're s**t at video game design"
Pokemon TCG Pocket Shiny Cards
How to get Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A's director appears to be a Xenoblade Chronicles fan, and I'm now feeling very validated about a tiny detail I spotted in the upcoming RPG's gameplay trailer
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"