Skyrim Grandma seemingly confirms she isn’t in Starfield and won’t even be playing it

Most of the hardcore Bethesda RPG fans who’ve invested thousands of hours into Skyrim and Fallout 4 can't wait for the release of Starfield, which is set for September 6.

For those who’ve spent the past few months speculating about everything the game could contain and even its potential for interesting mods and DLCs further down the line, Sunday’s massive Starfield Direct provided plenty of fresh answers regarding exactly what it’ll offer on release.

While some of the biggest talking points coming out of this show have concerned the game’s 30 FPS cap on consoles and some potential peeks at its version of Earth, fans are now going back through its gameplay deep-dive to look for and analyse subtle things we all might have missed. Though, it seems one encounter spotted in the broadcast might not be what many first assumed.

Were you hoping to meet the famous Skyrim Grandma while exploring Starfield’s cosmos?

During the section of the showcase that covers space flight, at one point the player is seen interacting with a friendly ship labelled ‘Grandma’, which, as you can see below, offers you a chance to “pop on by” and sample some food they’ve just finished cooking.

Naturally, the immediate reaction to this encounter saw many people link it to Shirley Curry, the beloved Skyrim-playing Grandma who’s already confirmed to be appearing in The Elder Scrolls 6, with the consensus being that the ship was either evidence that she’d also be popping up in Starfield or that the encounter had simply been constructed as an homage to her.

While the latter could well still be accurate, it seems we can rule out the former, with Curry having seemingly confirmed in response to some comments on one of her recent YouTube videos that she won’t be appearing in the game or playing it when it comes out.

That said, she also acknowledged that if the encounter from the showcase is a “nod” to her, she thinks that “would be sweet,” which is a wonderfully wholesome response.

Curry, who was added into Skyrim by modders a couple of years ago, had previously said during a panel at 2022’s PAX East that she was on the fence about playing Starfield, but definitely wanted Bethesda to hurry up and release The Elder Scrolls 6.

Regardless of whether, like some fans on Reddit, you’re now wondering whether Starfield’s Grandma encounter is actually a cunning trick being played by pirates, make sure to follow us for lots of guides to its world and mechanics.

You can also check out our latest mods of the month for some killer Skyrim and Fallout mods that’ll help tide you over until it arrives.