Is an Elder Scrolls TV show going to follow Fallout? Bethesda doesn’t seem to be in any rush

Amazon’s Fallout TV Show is here now, but before it was, the show had a swanky Hollywood premiere that I’m sure my invite for got lost in the post. At that premiere, snazzily dressed Todd Howard said some things, and some of these things were about the potential idea of an Elder Scrolls adaptation. When it comes to such a thing, it sounds like Howard’s plan is – simply put – to keep on being picky.

Yup, picky, but in what should be a good way. After all, if someone’s going to turn the Lusty Argonian Maid into the blockbuster hit of summer 2034, we need to make sure they understand what the political climate of Morrowind was like when Crassius Curio wrote the damn thing.

Speaking to IGN on the red carpet, Howard was asked about the idea of other Bethesda IPs potentially getting the adaptation treatment, be that a TV show like Fallout or something else. “I don’t know. There’s nothing in the works,” the BGS big cheese said.

“Everybody asks, like, about Elder Scrolls, and I keep saying no also. And I would approach those – I’ll probably say no. You never know if someone’s gunna click. But I think this [Fallout show] 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.’ As opposed to, ‘we should have a show,’ right? It never came from that.”

So, what does that mean? Well, I read it not as Howard outright declaring that he’d be unlikely to ever okay an Elder Scrolls adaptation, but more that he’s very much in the position to approach it as he has Fallout – playing the waiting game while hearing out any pitches, until one comes along that he really likes.

Given the early reception to the results of that process, which eventually led Howard to accepting the pitch from director Jonathan Nolan, Kilter Films and Amazon, it certainly seems like a shrewd move, at least in theory, to stick with that approach going forwards.

If you’re interested in fun pitches for things that aren’t Crimebusters-style TV shows about Oblivion’s guards, make sure to check out the Fallout 5 pitch we recently got from ex-Bethesda developer Jonah Lobe.