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As someone with over 1,000 hours of playtime in Elden Ring, I have been nervous about Alex Garland’s forthcoming film adaptation ever since it was announced in May by A24.
How could a single movie possibly encompass the experience of waking up in a fallen land that has been ravaged by centuries worth of conflict between warring demigods whose names all start with the same three letters? I barely understand the ins and outs of the Lands Between after 15 total playthroughs, so how is the director of Ex Machina going to condense all that lore into an acceptable theatrical runtime?
We’ll all have to wait until 2028 to find out, but for now, we can rest assured that the cast of the movie event is extremely relevant to our interests. On Monday, A24 announced the full cast of the IMAX production, and the list of LGBTQ+ stars is a blessing for gaymers everywhere: Heartstopper actor Kit Connor is confirmed to star, along with voice of Paddington Ben Whishaw. Two openly queer Bottoms alums, Havana Rose Liu and Ruby Cruz, are also confirmed for roles in Elden Ring.
The full cast list also includes Cailee Spaeny, Tom Burke, Nick Offerman, and many more. (Look, there are a lot of characters in Elden Ring, so this one was always going to be an ensemble.) Further details about the film are still few and far between, but leaks of an apparent set look remarkably faithful to the source material.
Widely considered one of the greatest video games ever made, Elden Ring has reportedly reached over 36 million total players and, despite being released in 2022, still routinely reaches between 30 to 40 thousand concurrent players on PC alone. While much of the lore and characterization in the game is elliptical, often delivered through oblique dialogue and diary logs, many LGBTQ+ players — like yours truly — resonate with characters and mythological figures in the game who bend the boundaries of gender beyond mortal comprehension.
To say more would potentially spoil lore that Garland may or may not choose to include in his take on the game, so you’ll have to pick up the controller if you want to find out more.
The Elden Ring film adaptation will release on March 3, 2028.
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