Highlights
- Bethesda’s Todd Howard shut down Elder Scrolls TV rumors, showing no immediate plans for adaptation.
- Fallout show success doesn’t guarantee and Elder Scrolls show.
- Elder Scrolls fans must wait for a standout pitch from a studio to see their beloved series on screen.
Bethesda director Todd Howard explained his vision for an Elder Scrolls adaptation during the red-carpet premiere of the Fallout TV series. Longtime fans of The Elder Scrolls have advocated for a live-action adaptation of the high fantasy action RPG series for years, but while many studios have expressed their interest in the chance to bring the land of Tamriel to film or television, the franchise has yet to branch out to either medium to this day.
When news of a Fallout live-action adaptation was announced back in 2020, it did more than excite fans of the post-apocalyptic video game franchise. It also sparked hope that other best-selling Bethesda games would soon follow in the Ella Purnell-led adaptation’s footsteps. This included The Elder Scrolls players, many of whom hoped the Fallout TV show was a sign that Bethesda was similarly reserving a spot for the fantasy series in the growing video game adaptation roster with the intent of turning the IP into a multimedia franchise juggernaut on the level of several massively popular shows. However, it might have been too early to celebrate, as Howard claimed it wasn’t that simple.
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Speaking with IGN, the Bethesda director revealed there were no plans for a TV or film adaptation of The Elder Scrolls. Howard additionally revealed he had so far rejected all offers from various studios, stating that he was looking for an opportunity where he and his team could work with passion throughout production rather than just for the sake of pushing out a lackluster film or TV series.
This was notably also how the Fallout adaptation originally received his blessing. Howard reportedly rejected offer after offer from other studios looking to expand on the post-apocalyptic series until he finally hit it off with executive producer Johnathan Nolan, who agreed to create an entirely new story for the Fallout TV series.
While Bethesda has no plans for an Elder Scrolls adaptation, Howard remained open to the idea. The director explained how, even though no offer had so far caught his eye, a pitch from a creative enough studio in the future might finally pull his team on board despite the challenges in creating the live-action Fallout series.
While Howard might still be hesitant to export The Elder Scrolls to the big or small screen, recent years have seen a marked increase in the number of high-budget video game adaptations. Apart from Fallout, shows like The Last of Us and Halo TV adaptations are signs of a changing industry, one that continues to blur boundaries between interactive and non-interactive entertainment.
