Kurt Kuhlmann, a designer who worked at Bethesda Game Studios for twenty years, once had a very specific idea for the next Elder Scrolls game. He was once considered for the lead designer role on The Elder Scrolls 6. Kuhlmann said that if he had his way, the game would have been like the famous Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back.
His idea was to let the villains win. In the Elder Scrolls universe, the bad guys are the Thalmor, a group of elven supremacists. Kuhlmann wanted the Thalmor to temporarily win in the story. This would create a cliffhanger ending, leaving players waiting for revenge in the next game, The Elder Scrolls 7. He shared this idea in an interview with PCGamer.
Kuhlmann explained his thinking clearly. He said, “I had in my mind that TES6 was going to be like The Empire Strikes Back.” In this version of the story, the player might secretly save the day by rescuing a royal heir. This would keep hope alive for the future. However, looking at the big picture, it would seem like the Thalmor were winning the war. Kuhlmann believed this would be a refreshing change from the usual “chosen one” storylines found in previous Elder Scrolls games.
There was a time when it seemed this plan might actually happen. Todd Howard, the head of Bethesda Game Studios, allegedly offered Kuhlmann the lead designer job after the team finished working on Skyrim. The studio’s original plan was to make Fallout 4 first and then return to the fantasy series. However, things changed. The studio’s attention shifted to Fallout 76, and then to Starfield, which took several years to develop. This meant that Bethesda Game Studios did not return to the next Elder Scrolls game for eleven years.
Kuhlmann was ready for the job when the time came. He had been working as a lead systems designer on Starfield in the meantime. He felt he was a strong candidate for the role. Kuhlmann stated, “I was obviously one of the old-timers there and had a lot of experience.” He had been the co-lead designer on Skyrim alongside Bruce Nesmith. Since Skyrim was a very successful project, he felt it was reasonable to expect he could lead The Elder Scrolls 6. He added, “It wasn’t just my expectation – I had been told that that was going to happen.”
Despite these expectations, the studio made a different decision. Bethesda offered him a different role on the project instead. Todd Howard described it as an “important role,” but Kuhlmann said that what he wanted and what the studio wanted were different at that point. There was no mention of the verbal promise made years earlier. This situation, combined with how the studio had grown and changed during the development of Starfield, led Kuhlmann to leave Bethesda Game Studios in 2023.
Kuhlmann, who was once considered the loremaster of the Elder Scrolls series, acknowledges that the role of lead designer is different now than it was in 2011. He noted that leading The Elder Scrolls 6 is very different from leading Skyrim. He also admits that his Empire Strikes Back idea probably would not have worked with the team. Ending a game with a loss and a cliffhanger is risky. He questioned how players would feel waiting ten or fifteen years for the conclusion, noting that it is not a good way to end a game.
Today, The Elder Scrolls 6 is finally in full development. It was announced very early at E3 in 2018, long before Starfield was finished. Todd Howard mentioned last November that the game is still “a long way off.” However, it sounds like the long pre-production phase is finally over, and the majority of the studio is now working on it. Fans are eagerly waiting to play it, though it may not arrive until 2030.
