The first leaked set photos from A24’s live-action Elden Ring adaptation have shifted fan discussion from abstract casting rumors to specific story clues. Images and videos published on April 22 and April 23, 2026, appear to show Kit Connor on location, a large Queen Marika statue, and production design that closely matches the Church of Marika and other recognizable spaces from FromSoftware’s game. That matters because the leaks do more than tease costumes. They suggest Alex Garland’s film may be anchoring itself in core Elden Ring mythology rather than using the brand for a loosely inspired fantasy story.
What the first set photos actually show
Coverage from Slashfilm, GamesRadar, ComingSoon, Kotaku, and Shortlist converges on the same basic point: the earliest widely circulated set materials show a ruined stone location, a statue associated with Queen Marika, and at least one on-set glimpse of Kit Connor. Slashfilm framed the images as the first set photos revealing Kit Connor and Queen Marika. ComingSoon separately reported that new set videos and photos show Queen Marika, the Dung Eater, and more. GamesRadar also highlighted that the leaked material suggests the Loathsome Dung Eater and Raya Lucaria may appear in the adaptation.
That overlap is important because entertainment leak stories often drift into speculation fast. Here, though, multiple outlets are describing the same visual markers: a church-like ruin, a Marika-like statue, and production elements that look intentionally game-accurate rather than generically medieval. Shortlist went further, calling its own on-set images an exclusive look at filming in London and noting that director Alex Garland was spotted on set. PC Gamer, in an earlier report from roughly two weeks before the newest leak cycle, also connected viral footage from England to the Elden Ring movie and said the set looked like a church of Marika.
Put simply, there is now a visible pattern. The adaptation appears to be building recognizable Lands Between iconography in physical locations, not just relying on digital environments. For a property like Elden Ring, that is a meaningful signal of intent.
Why Queen Marika is the biggest clue in the leak
Queen Marika is not just another lore name for longtime players. She is central to Elden Ring’s cosmology, political collapse, and the chain of events surrounding the Shattering. That is why the Marika imagery in the leaked set material stands out more than the costume sightings. If Garland and A24 were pursuing a fully original side story with only light references to the game, they would not need to foreground one of the setting’s most symbolically loaded figures this early in production design.
Several reports make that exact inference in different ways. Slashfilm argued that Marika’s inclusion suggests the movie will engage with larger canon from the games. GamesRadar described the statue as game-accurate and tied it to the dark mythological story fans know. Shortlist noted fan speculation around Emma Laird and Marika, while also suggesting the film may be adapting a more specific in-world tale rather than inventing a disconnected narrative.
The more interesting angle is not simply that Marika appears. It is that the production seems to be emphasizing sacred architecture and mythic symbols before audiences have seen any major battle imagery. That points toward a film interested in origin, fracture, and belief systems. In other words, the adaptation may be using Elden Ring’s theology as its dramatic spine, not just its monster roster.
What Kit Connor’s presence may mean for the story
Kit Connor’s appearance in the leaked material has fueled immediate character guessing, but the evidence remains thin on exactly who he is playing. Shortlist speculated that Connor could portray Vyke, one of the game’s most tragic and adaptation-friendly figures. Kotaku, by contrast, noted that his visible outfit in circulating images was too non-specific to tie to any single armor set or character with confidence.
That uncertainty is worth preserving. There is a difference between what the photos confirm and what fandom wants them to confirm. Right now, the strongest verified point is that Connor appears to be on set and involved in active production. The weakest point is any definitive character identification.
Still, his casting matters. Connor is one of the names most consistently linked to the project across reports, and his age and screen presence make him a plausible focal character if the film follows a younger warrior, witness, or pre-fall figure moving through the world before or during a major rupture. If Marika is visually central and Connor is physically present in these early leaks, the film may be structuring itself around a human-scale point of entry into a myth-heavy narrative. That would be a smart adaptation move. Elden Ring’s lore is rich, but it is also famously diffuse. A movie needs a dramatic anchor.
What competitors covered, and what they mostly missed
Most early write-ups have focused on the obvious fan-service elements: Queen Marika, the Dung Eater, Raya Lucaria, and whether the sets look faithful. That is understandable, but it leaves out the more revealing production question: what kind of adaptation grammar is A24 and Garland building?
The leaked images suggest three things competitors have not emphasized enough.
First, the film appears to favor practical worldbuilding. Reconstructed ruins, large-scale statuary, and location shooting imply a tactile approach. That fits Garland’s filmmaking habits, which often lean on physical environments to create tension and credibility.
Second, the adaptation may be less interested in summarizing the entire game than in selecting a narrow mythic corridor through it. Marika-centered imagery is not broad world sampling. It is targeted thematic framing.
Third, the leaks hint that the movie could be balancing recognizable lore with a more intimate character path. That would explain why fans can identify the world markers more easily than the protagonist’s exact role. The setting is canonical. The dramatic route through it may be more selective.
How faithful does the movie look so far?
Based on the leaked material alone, the answer is: visually, fairly faithful; narratively, still uncertain. The church ruins and Marika iconography repeatedly described by multiple outlets line up with fan recognition from the game. GamesRadar, PC Gamer, and ComingSoon all treated the set design as strongly evocative of specific Elden Ring locations or factions. That consistency gives the faithfulness argument real weight.
But visual fidelity is not the same thing as story fidelity. A film can reproduce architecture, symbols, and costumes while still reorganizing chronology, combining characters, or inventing connective tissue. In fact, it probably has to. Elden Ring’s storytelling in game form depends on environmental fragments, item descriptions, and player inference. Cinema cannot simply port that structure over unchanged and expect mainstream clarity.
So the better question is not whether the movie will be one-to-one faithful. It almost certainly will not be. The better question is whether it understands what must remain intact: the sense of ruin, divine fracture, and tragic grandeur. On the evidence available so far, it seems to.
What happens next for the A24 Elden Ring movie
The next meaningful milestone will not be another blurry telephoto image. It will be an official still, synopsis, or cast-character confirmation from A24, Bandai Namco, or a major trade publication. Until then, the leak cycle will keep generating theories faster than facts.
Even so, the first set photos have already done something valuable. They have narrowed the field of plausible interpretations. This does not look like a generic fantasy adaptation wearing Elden Ring branding. It looks like a production that knows the symbolic weight of Queen Marika, understands the visual language of the Lands Between, and is willing to build that world in a concrete, expensive, highly legible way.
That is why the Kit Connor and Marika images matter. Not because they answer every casting question. They do not. They matter because they reveal the adaptation’s priorities. So far, those priorities look closer to myth, ruin, and canon than many fans feared.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the Elden Ring movie set photos real?
Multiple entertainment outlets, including Slashfilm, ComingSoon, GamesRadar, Kotaku, Shortlist, and PC Gamer, have reported on the same wave of leaked images or videos. That does not equal formal studio confirmation, but it does make the material more credible than a single unverified social post.
Do the photos confirm Kit Connor is playing Queen Marika?
No. The leaks connect Kit Connor to the set and separately show imagery associated with Queen Marika, but they do not confirm that Connor is portraying Marika. The preferred title phrase reflects the topic angle, not a verified casting fact. Current reporting supports Connor being on set, not that specific role assignment.
What Elden Ring locations seem to appear in the leaks?
Reports most commonly mention a church-like ruin associated with Marika. GamesRadar also said the set photos suggest the Dung Eater and Raya Lucaria may appear, while earlier reports from PC Gamer and ComingSoon linked viral footage to a Church of Marika-style location.
Who is directing the Elden Ring movie?
Alex Garland is widely reported as the writer-director of the live-action Elden Ring adaptation for A24, with Bandai Namco involved in the project. Multiple reports cited in the leak coverage repeat that production setup.
Does the Queen Marika imagery reveal the movie’s plot?
Not definitively, but it strongly suggests the film will engage with core Elden Ring mythology. Marika is too central to the game’s lore for her imagery to be a random background nod. The safest conclusion is that the adaptation is drawing from major canon, even if the exact storyline remains unknown.
When will A24 officially reveal more?
There is no confirmed public date in the leak reports for a trailer, first-look image, or synopsis. The most likely next step is an official still or cast-character announcement once filming progresses further and the studio is ready to control the narrative around the adaptation.
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