Alex Garland’s Elden Ring Film: A Vision of Epic Fantasy Warfare

If you could pluck any director from the filmmaking cosmos to helm an Elden Ring movie, who’s snagging your vote? Maybe you’d aim for those fantasy titans like Peter Jackson or Guillermo del Toro. Or hey, how about Miguel Sapochnik? You know, the genius behind those epic Game of Thrones brawls like Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards. Then again, maybe you’re in the mood for something a bit offbeat—perhaps Robert Eggers of Nosferatu fame, Yorgos Lanthimos from Poor Things, or Bong Joon Ho, who’s working on Mickey 17. These dudes live for the bizarre and mysterious, just like the people at FromSoftware who cooked up Elden Ring.

But honestly, who would’ve thought of Alex Garland? Seriously. This British writer-director is known for the brainy sci-fi tales like Ex Machina and Annihilation. Plus some war flicks—Civil War and Warfare or something—which, um, don’t scream FromSoftware style, right? Yet, guess who’s diving into this project? Garland himself, and A24 is waving the green light for him to adapt Hidetaka Miyazaki’s ultimate masterpiece onto the big screen. Makes you think, right? How on earth will he pull this off?

Scratching your head over Garland and Elden Ring? Same. His realm is sci-fi, not hardcore fantasy, which is daunting, even for a guy who’s adapted video games. And let’s face it, his way of storytelling, full of dialogue and character-driven plots, doesn’t exactly mesh with FromSoftware’s narrative style where stories breathe through item lore and landscape.

Yet, never say never. Garland has reinvented the wheel before. Just look at his filmography—it’s like hopping genres is his morning coffee. So, maybe he’ll ace this too.

And, surprise, surprise! The guy’s no stranger to gaming. Shocking, I know. Resident Evil left its mark on him, influencing his script for 28 Days Later. Oh, and remember The Beach? Based on his novel and somehow linked to Banjo-Kazooie if you squint at it the right way, or so some reviewer claims.

Funny thing is, many directors pretend to love the games they adapt. (No clue who M. Night Shyamalan was trying to fool with The Last Airbender). But Garland? Seems legit. He’s spoken fondly about The Last of Us, BioShock, and especially Dark Souls. Once told Gamespot, “The Dark Souls games have this crazy kind of poetry. Like, you’ll chit-chat with some sad soul by a door, and it feels like you’re in an existential daze.”

Could he channel that vibe for Elden Ring, maybe like Annihilation’s trippy visuals? Sure, but there’s another angle, a gutsier one: follow the path of Warfare. Hear me out. Warfare’s gritty realism isn’t fantastic in the magical sense, but it taps into the same feelings Elden Ring conjures—being outnumbered, overwhelmed, hanging onto life (or runes) by a thread.

Imagine swapping a crumbling Iraqi city for Limgrave’s ruins or Caelid’s barren wastelands. The saga of power struggles among demigods takes a backseat as we focus on the Tarnished’s journey—a player too busy surviving to remember they’re supposed to become Elden Lord, whatever that even means.

Rumor mill says Garland might rope Kit Connor from Warfare into playing the lead. Could he be weaving Wilderness’ intensity with Elden Ring’s dark themes of fear and despair? It fits, right? Using Warfare’s blueprint, Garland could capture the reality of Elden Ring’s brutal, existential grip—far from cheap thrill, cutscene-heavy adaptations. Think HBO’s The Last of Us, season one—a masterclass in staying true to source magic.

Elden Ring doesn’t hand you power; it throws you into the pit of despair and dares you to claw out. It’s an anti-power fantasy. To do it justice, Garland needs to latch onto that raw, persistent struggle. If Warfare is any indication, we might just witness cinematic magic when Elden Ring hits theaters.

Tim Brinkhof is this arty-history geeky writer who studied journalism at NYU. His musings have popped up in Vox, Vulture, Slate, and handfuls more.