The Fallout TV show has been a huge win for Bethesda Game Studios, earning awards and attracting millions of viewers to the Fallout world, which has led to new partnerships. This raises the question: if The Elder Scrolls were to become a live-action show, could it achieve the same level of success?
Bruce Nesmith, who helped design The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim and wrote quests for Fallout 3, believes a live-action TV series or movie based on The Elder Scrolls would likely fail.
Could The Elder Scrolls Get a Television Show?
I remember hearing about this guy, Nesmith. He was at Bethesda for a while, actually worked on some huge titles before moving on in 2021. Apparently, he was a big part of making Skyrim, which came out in 2011. Seriously, everyone talks about how amazing that game is, and he helped build it! It’s one of those games I could play forever, and it’s cool to know he contributed to something so legendary.
In a recent interview with Press Box PR, Nesmith discussed his work on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, as well as his overall creative process and the worlds he’s built – and continues to build.
The conversation shifted to the Fallout TV series, which has been very popular since its release in April 2024.
When asked about a potential live-action adaptation of The Elder Scrolls, former Bethesda developer Nesmith expressed doubt, and his prediction unfortunately proved accurate.
Do they really need marketing for Elder Scrolls 6?
Fallout has a distinct and original quality that makes it particularly well-suited for adaptation into a TV show or movie, unlike The Elder Scrolls, which feels like a typical fantasy story – and that’s just not as compelling.
Fallout is truly unique. There’s nothing else in gaming quite like its world and everything it offers.
It’s much simpler to create a show based on reality and attract an audience than to build a fantasy world with elves and magic. With fantasy, you really have to up the ante – if you introduce a dragon, people have seen that before. You need to offer viewers something fresh and original.
I’m not sure The Elder Scrolls would work well as a TV series. A movie might be possible, but I’d have a hard time envisioning a successful show.
That’s a valid observation. Nesmith noted that franchises like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings share a lot of similarities with The Elder Scrolls. Many fantasy shows and movies, including adaptations like The Witcher, feel very similar to the world Bethesda created.
Bethesda Game Studios is very likely to focus on adapting Fallout into a TV series, as the franchise has the potential to last for ten years or more, if successful.
Now, if we could just start talking about making Fallout 5 a reality…
Grant Taylor-Hill
Grant first fell in love with gaming in 1996 on the Amstrad CPC. Today, he’s a skilled gamer across many platforms, with a strong passion for both video games and competitive esports.
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2026-01-30 17:50