Set photos from A24's live-action Elden Ring adaptation have surfaced, and they're packed with details that fans of FromSoftware's action RPG will recognize immediately.
The photos, shared exclusively by Shortlist, were taken on an active production set and reveal prop labels and set dressing that map directly to locations and characters from the game. A sign reading "Leyndell Streets" points to the Royal Capital, a prop box is stamped "Stormveil" after the game's first major legacy dungeon, and hanging lanterns alongside cage decorations closely resemble the aesthetic of Raya Lucaria Academy, the sorcery school players storm in the game's mid-section.
The most eyebrow-raising detail, though, is a gallows beam that appears to mirror the opening cutscene of Elden Ring, where the Loathsome Dung Eater, one of the game's most notorious NPCs, is shown being hanged. The Dung Eater is not exactly a crowd favorite in terms of personality (the name is a hint), but he's one of the more memorable and lore-significant characters in the game, so his inclusion would make sense for a story that needs actual antagonists.
What the set dressing actually tells us
Here's the thing: prop labels and set decorations aren't confirmation of anything, but they're rarely accidental either. Productions at this scale don't dress sets with specific location names unless those locations are part of the script. Seeing "Leyndell Streets," "Stormveil," and Raya Lucaria-style visuals all in the same behind-the-scenes batch suggests the film is pulling from multiple regions of the Lands Between rather than focusing on a single area.
That's a meaningful creative choice. Elden Ring's world is enormous and deliberately fragmented, with lore spread across item descriptions, NPC dialogue, and environmental storytelling. Adapting it into a linear film means the writers had to make hard decisions about which locations actually drive a narrative forward. The fact that Leyndell and Raya Lucaria both appear to feature suggests the story may follow something close to the main game's progression arc.
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These are set photos, not official confirmed plot details. The locations and characters suggested here are based on prop identification and visual comparisons, not studio announcements.
The cast and crew behind the production
Director Alex Garland, a self-described Elden Ring super-fan who has previously demonstrated detailed knowledge of the game's bosses in interviews, also wrote the script. The cast includes Kit Connor (who appeared in Garland's Warfare), Ben Whishaw (the voice of Paddington Bear), and Cailee Spaeny (Alien: Romulus, Garland's Civil War). Tom Burke and Nick Offerman round out the main ensemble.
Offerman's casting has already sent fans into speculation mode. His previous major gaming adaptation credit is the Emmy-nominated episode of The Last of Us, and more than a few people online are convinced he's playing the Dung Eater. The gallows imagery in the set photos has only added fuel to that theory.
A 2028 release on an IMAX-sized canvas
The film is confirmed for a March 3, 2028 theatrical release and will be shot for IMAX. That last detail matters: Garland shooting for IMAX implies the production is treating the Lands Between as a world worth presenting at the largest possible scale, which aligns with how Elden Ring players actually experience it. The first time you crest a hill and see Stormveil Castle in the distance, or spot the Erdtree glowing on the horizon, those are genuinely cinematic moments.
With production now clearly underway and set photos already leaking, the next few months will likely bring more glimpses of how Garland is translating FromSoftware's world to screen. For everything confirmed so far about the project, browse our latest gaming news as details continue to emerge.
The Loathsome Dung Eater appearing in a prestige A24 production directed by the guy who made Ex Machina is a sentence that would have seemed absurd two years ago. And yet, here we are. Keep watching this one closely.
