A24 has announced the cast of Alex Garland’s Elden Ring movie, but the plot remains secret. Ahead of November’s American Film Market, the studio reportedly sent staff to supervise script readings by potential international buyers. Some passages were said to be withheld altogether.

Fans still debate the game’s story, so a leaked scene could settle questions Garland hasn’t answered publicly.

A Castle Is Enough to Start Theories

Elden Ring tells much of its story through fragments: conversations with characters, descriptions of objects and places players discover for themselves. Garland has to decide which threads belong in the movie and which can be left alone. Even the choice of a castle or an enemy could suggest where the story is heading.

In May, footage apparently filmed at Conwy Castle in Wales showed armored figures on the battlements. Viewers began comparing the location with Stormveil Castle and Castle Morne. The footage couldn’t confirm either theory, but it gave fans plenty to discuss without a line of dialogue being released.

Script Details Travel in Ordinary Messages

A complete screenplay is an obvious thing to keep private. Smaller pieces of information are harder to spot. An email about an actor’s availability might identify a character who hasn’t been announced. A location change might reveal where an important sequence takes place. Even a routine exchange between departments can carry more story information than its sender realizes.

Those conversations involve agents, writers, production staff and outside partners, often across several companies. A professional email service with encryption and centrally managed user accounts is one way to handle that correspondence. It doesn’t prevent an authorized recipient from passing information along, so drafts and sensitive scenes still need their own access restrictions.

A costume supplier, for example, doesn’t need the entire plot to discuss an outfit.

An Early Draft Isn’t the Finished Film

Leaks can also give fans an outdated picture of a movie. Scenes get rewritten, characters lose screen time and dialogue changes during editing. A page from an early version might have little to do with what eventually reaches theaters.

Adaptations face another layer of scrutiny because audiences already know the source material. If a leaked Elden Ring scene suggests two storylines have been combined, fans may start debating the decision before anyone knows whether it survives the final cut. The same goes for casting rumors. Being considered for a role and being hired are very different stages of production.

Garland Started With a Substantial Pitch

The project’s development history offers a clue to how much material exists beyond the announcements. Garland first showed the game to A24 executive Noah Sacco, then prepared a 160-page draft with 40 pages of supporting images to pursue the adaptation with the game’s creators.

The draft’s length tells us little about the final film, scheduled for March 3, 2028. With buyers evaluating distribution rights, A24 has reason to limit how many copies of those pages circulate.

Who Needs to See the Material?

Different people need different parts of a screenplay as production moves forward.

• Writers and producers need working drafts and revisions as the story changes.
• Casting teams and agents may need character descriptions and selected scenes, without every plot development.
• Distributors and buyers need enough to evaluate a film, though that doesn’t necessarily require keeping a complete screenplay.

These are general ways of limiting access, not confirmed rules for A24’s production. The reported supervised readings suggest that the studio is being particularly careful about what prospective buyers can retain.

What We Still Don’t Know

A24 has announced a March 3, 2028 release and a full cast, but there’s still no official explanation of which part of the game Garland has chosen to tell. Reports about the screenplay and footage from locations offer hints without confirming much.

For now, even a close look at that Welsh castle won’t tell fans what role it plays in Garland’s version of the Lands Between.