Speaking at the premiere of Amazon’sFalloutshow in Los Angeles, Bethesda’s Todd Howard admitted he’ll likely turn down any pitches for a TV adaptation ofThe Elder Scrolls. Not only that, but he was initially against the idea of aFalloutTV show.
When asked byIGNif other Bethesda properties will see similar adaptations in the wake ofFallout, Howard revealed there’s nothing in the works at the moment, adding, “Everybody asks, like, aboutElder Scrolls, and I keep saying no also. And I would approach those—I’ll probably say no.”
This may seem baffling since video game adaptations are all the rage nowadays, plusElder Scrollsis a very popular franchise. However, Howard explained how he rejected pitches for aFalloutshow, as well as a movie, for about a decade. Amazon’s adaptation only became about because he hit things off with Jonathan Nolan, who serves as an executive producer on the show.
Howard loved Nolan’s work as a writer on movies likeThe Dark KnightandInterstellar, and after meeting and speaking with him, Howard “felt like, ‘hey, do you wanna do this? I’d like to approach it like it’s another entry in the games.’ Like, let’s do a new location, new story, let him and his crazy lunatic people he works with kind of do what they do.”
It very much sounds like Howard doesn’t want to make anElder Scrollsshow just for the sake of it. He felt the same way aboutFallout, adding, “I think this really came out of, ‘we think things are aligning to do a high-quality job.’ It wasn’t forced. It was kind of a natural relationship and ‘hey, this sounds really cool.'”
This news may be disappointing to some, but at least this means if Howard ever changes his mind (which he doesn’t rule out), it’ll be because he’s found the right creative partner for anElder Scrollsshow.Falloutmay have required something of a ‘stars aligning’ moment for it to come to be, but Howard’s insistence on letting it happen naturally seems to have paid off, withtheFalloutshow getting near rave reviews from critics. You canwatch all eight episodes right nowif you want as long as you have access to Amazon Prime Video.
