Martin), an official Elden Ring movie is on the way. The project is set to become A24’s most expensive movie ever, with a rumored production budget of over $100 million. At first glance, the obvious question would be how an adaptation of the game could even work, considering that FromSoft’s games rely on environmental storytelling as opposed to traditional cutscenes and exposition.

But based on the set photos that have leaked, Garland might just be going out of his way to clear up some of the game’s ambiguity.Elden Ring reveals its lore through location details and item descriptions, which is difficult to communicate on film. | Bandai Namco EntertainmentYesterday, only a few days after the full cast and release date were announced, photos began leaking from the film’s London set. A few pictures of sets and background props had already leaked, but these new photos provide the first glimpse at the game’s major locations (including the royal capital of Leyndell, Stormveil Castle, and the Academy of Raya Lucaria) and major characters (such as the Loathsome Dung Eater and Emma Laird as Queen Marika).The playable narrative of Elden Ring takes place after an event known as the Shattering, in which Queen Marika destroys the title artifact (an interconnected system of magic runes that govern the natural laws of reality) and disappears, leaving her demigod children locked in a perpetual struggle for control over the fragmented runes.

Fans assumed the film would take place long before players pick up a controller — players meet many of Marika’s children, as well as characters important to pre- and post-Shattering events, but most of them are corrupted husks, and the world itself is so stagnated and degraded that reality has effectively been broken.Marika’s destruction of the Elden Ring is the game’s inciting incident, so the movie hinges on whether it takes place before or after. | Bandai Namco EntertainmentBecause of this, players don’t get a firsthand perspective on the royal family and the day-to-day reality of Marika’s rule. However, if the set photos are to be taken at face value, the film could, at least partly, take place before the Queen’s disappearance and expand on all the characters we meet who are too far gone to resemble their pre-Shattering selves.

There’s even a chance the film could depict the Night of Black Knives, the assassination of Marika’s favored son Godwyn the Golden, and the direct catalyst for her destruction of the Elden Ring (essentially the game’s version of the Red Wedding).There’s something deeply intriguing about the possibility that the film might present Marika, her offspring, and her royal court as real, breathing characters with desires, goals, and hidden agendas, because to the game’s playable character, they essentially just serve as obstacles to be overcome. If done right, Elden Ring’s worldbuilding and characterization could come to life with the same rich intricacy as Game of Thrones. Only time will tell how satisfying the finished product will be, but it appears that Alex Garland will provide a look at the Lands Between with a clarity that players have never experienced before.Elden Ring is scheduled to hit theaters on March 3, 2028.