The phrase “Alex Garland A24 Elden Ring movie” has felt about as arcane and peculiar as any lore description in the beloved soulslike could be ever since it was first confirmed, but now the film is starting to step out of the mists and get a more firm grip on reality.
This morning A24 confirmed that Elden Ring would begin shooting this spring, aiming for a March 3, 2028 release date. After a few rumors, the studio also confirmed its cast, led by the previously rumored Heartstopper and Wild Robot star Kit Connor. Connor is joined by—deep breath—Nick Offerman, Ben Whishaw, Cailee Spaeny, Tom Burke, Havana Rose Liu, Sonoya Mizuno, Jonathan Pryce, Ruby Cruz, John Hodgkinson, Jefferson Hall, Emma Laird, and Peter Serafinowicz. Start your guesses now for who among them is playing the crucial role of Turtle Pope.
The film is being shot for IMAX, and Peter Rice, Andrew Macdonald, and Allon Reich will produce, alongside Vince Gerardis and, perhaps to the surprise of no one familiar with his love of side quests, George R.R. Martin. Before unfamiliar Game of Thrones fans still yearning for the Winds of Winter to come blowing any time soon get their pitchforks out, again, this one isn’t surprising—Martin was already involved with the original game in its early stages, helping develop its worldbuilding and broader story concepts alongside legendary FromSoftware designer Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Released in 2022 as the latest in the loosely similar “soulslike” genre that rose to popularity with the release of Demon’s Souls over a decade prior—and now includes a swathe of similar action-RPGs from FromSoftware, including Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro—Elden Ring is set in a realm known as the Lands Between, a mythical realm where the titular Elden Ring was a powerful, magical manifestation of the rule of order, only for it to be shattered by the realm’s former ruler, Queen Marika, leaving shards of it to be fought over by her demigod children and for “Tarnished” warriors to return to the lands to seek claiming their own glory.
Just how a movie will try and capture the myriad layers of things that make Elden Ring and its ilk click for legions of players in the first place beyond the richness of its world remains to be seen, but now the clock is more definitively ticking down to a point where we’ll start finding out.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
