During PAX East 2019, Bethesda announced that popular YouTube personality Shirley Curry, an 83-year-old woman from Ohio known as “Skyrim Grandma” due to her focus onThe Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim,would be added into the upcomingElder Scrolls 6as an NPC. However, a small group of fans did not want to wait that long, and the Internet was graced with a teaser trailer for theirSkyrimfollower mod “Shirley.”
The minute-long teaser uploaded to Daniel Kemp’s YouTube channel says that “you’ve followed her for four years. Now, she’ll follow you,” before a player character walks up to the (currently unfinished) model of Curry. She repeats her signature video opening “good morning grandkid,” which was the primary focus of the clips preceding it, and then an endslate suggests the mod will be available early 2020.
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According to a Reddit post uploaded to the r/Skyrim subreddit about the Shirley mod by user phantom-scribbler (who reluctantly calls themselves one of its developers), the mod began production with a post made in November 2018. This was shortly after a petition to get Curry intoThe Elder Scrolls 6was posted to change.org by Nick Popp because of comments she made suggesting she might not be around to play the next entry in the series due to itsstill unknown release date. That petition went on to receive nearly 50,000 signatures.
A Q&A posted by phantom-scribbler under the Reddit post says that Curry will be a classic barbarian with light armor that uses two-handed weapons and archery “to reflect her preferred playstyle.” Curry has also volunteered to provide voice lines for the in-game character, including “unique commentary on locations and situations,” as well as whatever will be required to complete a small quest — with a larger one being planned for the future.
Mods for Skyrim have long been an integral part of the game’s longevity,as with many Bethesda titles. The Reddit Q&A suggests that developers are looking to make their contribution to that storied history available on Nexus, Bethesda.net, Xbox and potentially Steam. However, they say a PlayStation 4 release will not be possible.
Curry’s popularity across the Internet is undeniable, as many media outlets have jumped at the opportunity to talk about the video game-loving Great Grandmother. On July 01, 2025 she was even the focus of a half-hour documentary by the YouTube channel Gameumentary, nearly a year afterThe Elder Scrolls 6was announced at E3 2018.
