What you need to know
- Elden Ring is a gargantuan Game of the Year-winning 2022 action RPG from FromSoftware, the studio known for creating games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro that are very difficult but also extremely rewarding to play.
- FromSoftware worked with George R.R. Martin — the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books that Game of Thrones adapted — so that he could help the developer create Elden Ring’s worldbuilding and lore.
- In a new post on his blog, George R.R. Martin is playing coy about whether or not there’s an Elden Ring movie or TV show adaptation in the works, seemingly teasing the possibility.
- In a recent interview, FromSoftware president and Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said there’s interest in making an adaptation with “a very strong partner.”
In the wake of the launch of the gargantuan Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC a little over a week ago, one of the biggest pieces of news about FromSoftware’s award-winning fantasy action RPG was that the studio and its president, Hidetaka Miyazaki, is open to potential adaptations of the game. While Miyazaki feels that the developer doesn’t have “the knowledge or ability” to explore other mediums like movies and TV for stories in the Lands Between, he does say there’s interest in doing so with “a very strong partner.”
“I don’t see any reason to deny another interpretation or adaptation of Elden Ring, a movie for example. But I don’t think myself, or FromSoftware, have the knowledge or ability to produce something in a different medium,” he said in an interview with The Guardian. “So that’s where a very strong partner would come into play. We’d have to build a lot of trust and agreement on whatever it is we’re trying to achieve, but there’s interest, for sure.”
Miyazaki’s comments didn’t make it sound like there’s actually a project in the works yet, but wait: George R.R. Martin — the author of the critically acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire (AKA, Game of Thrones) fantasy novels that helped FromSoftware with Elden Ring’s worldbuilding — put up a new blog post on June 29 about an award he won for contributing to the game, and there’s a snippet from it that’s raising eyebrows.
“Oh, and about those rumors you may have heard about a feature film or television series based on ELDEN RING… I have nothing to say,” Martin wrote, suspiciously playing coy. “Not a word, nope, not a thing, I know nothing, you never heard a peep from me, mum mum mum. What rumor?”
So, does this mean that there’s an Elden Ring movie or TV series on the way? Ultimately, it’s impossible to say right now, as Martin’s teasing could just be exactly that: teasing to stir up all the Tarnished out there eager for more content in the Lands Between (especially now that it’s been confirmed Elden Ring isn’t getting more DLC). However, there might actually be something to this message from the author, too.
Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s biggest fantasy RPG by far — and I’m not just talking about its map size. It sold over 12 million copies in just a few weeks post-launch back in 2022, and in the leadup to the arrival of its DLC in June, it hit 25 million sales. The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC itself moved 5 million units in just a week; to compare, the Dark Souls trilogy sold 27 million copies in nine years.
Put simply, it’s one of the best-selling games of all time, and that’s the kind of popularity I’m betting will make eyes pop out at film studios and TV networks, especially in the wake of the wildly successful Fallout TV series. And hey, adapting Martin’s work to a show worked out pretty well for HBO, even if its eighth season was a dumpster fire (House of the Dragon is great, though).
From a business perspective, an Elden Ring adaptation makes plenty of sense. Whether or not the RPG is well-suited to one, though, is debatable. FromSoftware’s approach to storytelling is fairly unique and driven by the interactivity of its games, with most lore and narrative beats conveyed through NPC questlines, environmental details, and the descriptions of items that players acquire through attentive exploration and resilient determination. It’s a huge part of what made the story in Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and now Elden Ring so interesting to unravel, and I do worry much would be lost in an effort to tell a more traditional and “digestible” story in a movie or TV.
With that said, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Armored Core 6 show that FromSoftware’s more straightforward narratives are still great, and I’d love to see what some of the best minds in film and television could cook up with a world so vast, deep, and intriguing that YouTuber VaatiVidya is able to make multiple movie-length lore videos about its history and characters.
If something does eventually come, something interesting to note is that it actually won’t be the first official Elden Ring adaptation. That honor goes to Elden Ring: Road to the Erdtree, a hilarious parody manga that’s been running for over two years now. It’s even got a paperback release!
The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is finally here, and it makes one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of all time even better. It’s out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.
