Why Kit Connor Losing His Ego in the Lands Between Might Actually Save the Elden Ring Movie
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Kit Connor's casting in the upcoming Elden Ring film isn't just star power—it's a calculated move by director Alex Garland to bring the same ego-less, gritty realism he explored in his underrated war movies to the Lands Between.
Right, I’ve been staring into the digital crystal ball all morning, and things are getting weird in the Lands Between. Or should I say, they’re getting theatrical? You know that feeling when you cast a spell and it works a bit too well? That’s what director Alex Garland seems to be doing with his upcoming IMAX-sized adaptation of Elden Ring, set to hit theaters on March 3, 2028.
Now, according to a rather brilliant deep dive by Matt Patches over at Polygon, the casting of Kit Connor—the lad from *Heartstopper* who suddenly got built like a brick outhouse—isn't just Hollywood grabbing a popular face for the posters. It’s actually a move that makes a terrifying amount of sense if you’ve been paying attention to Garland’s recent output.
Fair warning: this news sounds a bit like standard casting fluff at first glance, but stick with me because it’s about to get interesting. We’re looking at what might be the conclusion of an accidental trilogy of war, memory, and existential dread.
Bloody hell, where do we even start? Let’s look at the director first. Alex Garland isn't some suit who was handed a copy of the game and told to 'make it like Lord of the Rings but grittier.' The man is a genuine, dyed-in-the-wool gamer. He’s the mind behind *Ex Machina* and *Annihilation*, but he’s also spoken about FromSoftware’s titles with a reverence usually reserved for ancient scrolls or a perfectly brewed pint. He’s described the *Dark Souls* series as having 'embedded poetry,' where you drift into an 'existential dream.'
But back to Kit Connor. Most people know him as the sweet, sensitive Nick Nelson. However, Garland saw something else in him when he cast him in *Warfare*, a movie that—let’s be honest—flew under the radar because it was about as comfortable to watch as a spiked club to the shins.
*Warfare* was a collaboration with Ray Mendoza, a former Navy SEAL, and it was designed to be hyper-realistic. No Oscar-bait monologues. No slow-motion hero shots. Just the grinding, procedural, and often anonymous reality of combat. Connor played a gunner, a gear in a massive, violent machine. He went through a grueling boot camp just to learn how to move like a soldier, not an actor.
I reckon that’s the secret sauce for an *Elden Ring* movie. Think about it. In Miyazaki’s worlds, we aren't the 'Chosen One' who everyone bows to—at least not at first. We’re just another Tarnished, another body on the line, repeatedly getting flattened by giants and learning through sheer, agonizing repetition.
If Garland is treating *Elden Ring* as the final chapter of a trilogy that started with *Civil War* and moved through *Warfare*, he’s likely looking for that same ego-less physicality. He doesn't want a movie star playing a hero; he wants an actor who knows how to disappear into the squad—or in this case, into the armor.
Now, I’m usually the first one to raise an eyebrow when a big studio tries to 'fix' a game by turning it into a film. Most of the time, they strip out the soul and leave us with a hollow shell of CGI. But I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about this one. Why? Because Garland seems to understand the 'why' of *Elden Ring*. He gets that it’s not just about the dragons and the Melina-sized mysteries; it’s about the atmosphere. It's about that feeling of being a small thing in a very large, very indifferent world.
In his interview with GameSpot years ago, Garland talked about how those games feel like dreaming. And if you’ve seen his other work, you know the man can do 'dreamlike' better than almost anyone else in the business.
Of course, my inner skeptic is still whispering. Will they try to force a traditional three-act structure onto a story that is famously told through item descriptions and environmental cues? Will they try to make Kit Connor’s character a chatty protagonist when we’d all prefer a silent Tarnished who communicates exclusively through emotes and the occasional 'O, Elden Ring'?
But looking at the *Warfare* connection, it seems Garland and Connor are more interested in the grit than the glamour. Connor’s willingness to subject himself to a director’s brutal vision for the sake of authenticity is exactly what you need when you're adapting a game where the primary mechanic is dying until you get it right.
So, mate, if you’ve got a subscription to HBO Max, maybe summon the strength to watch *Warfare* before 2028 rolls around. It’ll give you a taste of the raw, unvarnished intensity Connor is bringing to the Lands Between. It might be a far cry from the neon-soaked streets of a Web3 metaverse or the shiny pixels of a mobile gacha game, but it’s the kind of grounded storytelling that gaming actually deserves.
I’ll be keeping my wizard’s hat on for more updates on this one. But for now, I’m actually—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—excited for a video game movie. Just don't tell the corporate PR teams I said that; they'll think their marketing is actually working on me.
Tags: EldenRing, AlexGarland, KitConnor, FromSoftware, GamingMovies
Original article: Polygon