The Elden Ring movie is barely into filming and it’s already fighting a boss battle it can’t roll away from: the internet. After the first wave of London set photos hit social media, even more leaks have now surfaced online, including additional images — and, crucially, footage that appears to show major spoiler moments being staged for Alex Garland’s upcoming A24 adaptation. If you were hoping to go into this one clean, the next two years are going to be a test of willpower.
What makes this leak cycle different isn’t just volume. It’s that the new material is starting to outline the film’s shape: where it’s shooting, which in-game locations it’s recreating, and which pieces of Lands Between history Garland may be prioritizing for a theatrical story that’s locked for March 3, 2028.
The London shoot is turning into Leyndell (and maybe more)
Filming has begun in London, with production spotted at the Old Royal Naval College in South London (also referred to in coverage as Greenwich Naval College). Leaked set photos and videos show the location being dressed to stand in for Leyndell, the Royal Capital — and the details are the kind that make lore-heads sit up straight.
Among the most telling bits seen in leaked images:
- Actors in armor resembling Leyndell Knight gear
- Erdtree banners and iconography worked into set dressing
- Wax-sealed window coverings that match the game’s visual language
- A visible label reading “Leyndell Streets” on a box on set
- Greenscreens positioned outside the building, with the implication being that post-production will add the Erdtree into shots
- Reports of the set being blanketed in mist, seemingly from fog machines or dry ice
This is the kind of production design that doesn’t happen by accident. Whether you love or hate the idea of adapting FromSoftware’s famously elliptical storytelling, the early read here is that Garland and A24 aren’t treating Elden Ring like generic dark fantasy dressing. They’re chasing specificity — the symbols, the materials, the “oh, I know exactly where this is” texture that fans obsess over.
And Leyndell might not be the only place being conjured out of this one real-world location. Additional props and labels seen in leaked photos suggest the same London site could be repurposed to represent multiple iconic areas, including:
- Stormveil Castle (with props labeled “Stormveil”)
- The Academy of Raya Lucaria (with set pieces resembling the academy’s lanterns/cages, and the Painted Hall area reportedly closed for filming)
If that’s accurate, it’s a very practical approach: one major, controllable location dressed and re-dressed to sell several of the game’s most recognizable spaces. It’s also a hint at the movie’s scope. You don’t build this much world unless you plan to spend meaningful screen time inside it.
The biggest spoiler signal: Dung Eater, gallows, and a scene from the opening cinematic
Here’s where the leaks stop being “cool set dressing” and start feeling like the film’s plot is being peeled open in real time.
Among the most discussed set elements is a gallows that appears to match the one seen in Elden Ring’s opening cinematic — the same imagery tied to the Loathsome Dung Eater. That was initially the kind of detail fans could argue about endlessly: a similar beam, a similar chain length, maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s not.
Then came the escalation: video from the set that appears to show the Dung Eater’s public execution being recreated. If that footage is authentic (and it’s being treated as such by multiple reports), it’s not just a nod — it’s a direct lift of one of the game’s most infamous pieces of framing.
That matters for two reasons.
First, it suggests Garland isn’t afraid to go there. The Dung Eater isn’t “marketable fantasy villain.” He’s one of the most repulsive figures in the game’s roster, and his presence signals a movie willing to embrace Elden Ring’s ugliness, not sand it down into safe blockbuster mush.
Second, it implies the film may be leaning into mythic, historical table-setting — the kind of prologue or prelude structure that lets you dramatize the world’s rot and cruelty before you ever get to a “main quest.” That dovetails with other leak-driven theories about the timeline.
Is Alex Garland’s Elden Ring movie set before the game?
The strongest throughline connecting the current leak wave is the growing belief that Garland’s adaptation is digging into pre-game backstory — potentially showing the Lands Between before the world players explore in 2022’s action RPG.
Leaked set imagery reportedly shows:
- A busier, more populated capital environment than the desolate Leyndell players know
- Dozens of extras including merchants, soldiers, and residents — including children
- A figure that appears to be Queen Marika moving through Leyndell
That last point is the one that’s lighting the community on fire. Multiple reports discuss photos that appear to show Marika, with some observers noting she seems to have both braids, which is being interpreted as a possible sign the scene is set before The Shattering.
There’s also discussion around an extra in the foreground of one image who appears to have horns, which has sparked speculation about what factions or characters the film may be pulling from the wider mythos. One report frames this as potentially significant for the movie’s interest in deeper lore.
To be crystal clear: there has been no official confirmation that any leaked image definitively shows Marika, nor that the horned figure is any specific named character or faction. Even within the leak conversation, there’s an explicit acknowledgment that AI-generated fakes are going to be a constant risk in the months ahead, and fans are already treating some images with caution.
Still, taken together — populated streets, Marika-like costuming, Leyndell in a less ruined state, and the apparent staging of a moment associated with the game’s mythic framing — the direction of travel is obvious: this movie may be less “you are a Tarnished, go kill demigods” and more “here’s how the Lands Between broke.”
And honestly? That’s the smart play.
A straight adaptation of the player’s journey risks becoming a checklist of bosses and locations without the interactive glue that makes it work as a game. A prequel-style political and theological tragedy — the kind of story that can center Marika, power, succession, betrayal, and the events that lead to catastrophe — is a much more natural fit for a two-to-three-hour film.
Release date, cast, and what’s officially confirmed
Amid all the leak chaos, there are a few hard facts that are locked in.
- The Elden Ring movie is being made by A24
- Alex Garland is writer-director
- The film is scheduled to release in theaters on March 3, 2028
- Filming is underway in London
A24 has also announced a sizable cast list, including:
- Kit Connor
- Ben Whishaw
- Cailee Spaeny
- Tom Burke
- Havana Rose Liu
- Sonoya Mizuno
- Jonathan Pryce
- Ruby Cruz
- Nick Offerman
- John Hodgkinson
- Jefferson Hall
- Emma Laird
- Peter Serafinowicz
What hasn’t been confirmed: who any of them are playing.
Leaks and fan theories are already trying to map faces to roles (and leaked footage is doing some of that mapping whether the production likes it or not), but there’s still no official character list.
One additional detail floating around in reporting: the film’s budget is alleged to be “well over” $100 million. That figure has not been formally confirmed by the studio in the information currently public, but it does align with what you’d expect if A24 is building large-scale sets, costuming armies of extras, and planning heavy VFX work for something like the Erdtree.
Why these leaks matter (and why they’re a problem)
As a fan, it’s hard not to feel the gravitational pull of this stuff. Elden Ring movie set leaks aren’t just gossip — they’re accidental marketing, and they’re also a kind of proof-of-life for a project that’s going to ask audiences to wait nearly two years.
But leaks like this also come with real costs.
If footage is genuinely showing “major spoilers in action,” that’s not harmless curiosity anymore. That’s story beats, reveals, and carefully staged imagery being ripped out of context and flattened into low-res clips designed to go viral. It can warp expectations, spoil surprises, and force a production to play defense instead of controlling its own rollout.
It’s also going to create a secondary problem: authenticity fatigue. When AI fakes are easy and engagement is currency, every new “leak” becomes a courtroom drama. Fans will argue over hands, hair, lighting, fabric folds — and the conversation shifts from “is this exciting?” to “is this even real?”
The irony is that Garland is one of the few filmmakers working today whose name actually signals intent. His best work is precise, mood-driven, and unafraid of ambiguity. Elden Ring is all of those things too. If this adaptation is going to land, it’ll be because it commits to tone and theme — not because it dutifully recreates every landmark like a theme park ride.
These leaks suggest the production is taking the world seriously. They also threaten to rob it of the mystery that makes Elden Ring hit as hard as it does.
What Remains Unknown
Even with the flood of images and video, the biggest questions around Alex Garland’s Elden Ring film are still unanswered:
- Which characters the announced cast are playing (no official roles confirmed yet)
- Whether the movie is primarily a prequel, a story that jumps between time periods, or something else entirely
- How closely the film will follow established lore events like The Shattering and the Night of the Black Knives (and how explicitly it will depict them)
- Whether the most viral set pieces (including the Marika-like figure and the Dung Eater execution staging) will appear in the final cut as filmed
- How A24 and the production will respond if spoiler footage continues to spread
For now, the only certainty is that the Lands Between are coming to the big screen — and the internet is determined to loot the entire dungeon before the opening weekend.
