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2026 will mark Skyrim's 15th anniversary, and we still don't know what shape The Elder Scrolls 6 is ultimately going to take. But Kurt Kuhlmann, co-lead designer on Skyrim, had some grand ideas for the next entry before he left Bethesda in 2023 – including a cliffhanger ending that would've set the stage for The Elder Scrolls 7.
Kuhlmann is a multi-decade veteran of Bethesda going back to the Daggerfall days, and his long history with the series gave him a reputation as the "loremaster" of The Elder Scrolls, according to an interview with our friends at PC Gamer. He ultimately left the studio after it became clear he wouldn't get a chance to lead the next Elder Scrolls game, but not before developing some ideas for TES6's story.
"I had in my mind that TES6 was going to be like The Empire Strikes Back," Kuhlmann explains. The Thalmor, who you may recall as the Elven supremacists you encounter in Skyrim, would've achieved some unspecified goal in their quest to take over Tamriel in this version of the story, which Kuhlmann saw as a deliberate swerve against the "chosen one" plots that have mostly defined The Elder Scrolls.
It would be a downer and a cliffhanger ending, though potentially one where players might have "secretly saved the day" in some way or another. "You've preserved hope for the future, but overall it looks like the Thalmor are on the march," Kuhlmann says of this possible ending.
These days, however, Kuhlmann recognizes that a cliffhanger ending is "completely unfeasible" for the Elder Scrolls series, which has now marked 15 years and counting between entries. "That's not a good way to end a game and say, yeah, we'll see you in 10, 15 years," he admits.
