Bethesda Softworks’ The Elder Scrolls franchise can make a decent claim to being the biggest RPG series in the world. Despite the last full instalment, the massively successful Skyrim, being released way back in 2011, it’s remained very popular. Partially that’s because the aforementioned game has been brought to practically every platform under the sun, but spinoffs like MMO The Elder Scrolls Online and mobile title The Elder Scrolls: Blades have also helped keep the franchise in the spotlight.
We know that The Elder Scrolls VI is in development at the moment, though nothing is known of what it’ll consist of and all we’ve seen is a short teaser trailer that basically just confirmed the title exists. It may be a while yet before we learn more about it, but in the meantime, there’s a new rumor being reported on by insider Daniel Richtman this week that says Netflix is working on a show based on The Elder Scrolls, and that it’ll be as big as their take on The Witcher.
One interesting wrinkle with this is that Bethesda Softworks is already developing a major TV series adaptation of one of their games with Netflix’s main competitor. Earlier this year, they announced that the Westworld team were working on Fallout, which will hit Amazon Prime sometime in the future.
In any case, it’ll be interesting to see when and where this is set. The Elder Scrolls‘ world of Tamriel is a big place with a lot of history and hundreds of years pass in between titles. In addition, due to the games being about player freedom, there isn’t a memorable character like Geralt from The Witcher to focus on. Still, I can easily see a show that explores cool elements like the Dark Brotherhood assassination bureau or the Thieves Guild. Plus, it’d be fun to get new takes on the Daedric Princes, especially the ever entertaining Sheogorath.
Perhaps this could also be tied directly into the next Elder Scrolls game. After all, it’d be neat to watch a prequel show setting up the world before we get to explore every inch of it ourselves.
