I've heard rumours dating back awhile that the next one is planned to feature heavily the Khajiit down south in Elsweyr. They've done Hammerfell, Morrowind and Cyrodiil ... I figure they'll do it another place the havent mapped out yet ...
personally I think having an 'Elder Scrolls V: Retaking of Atmora' would be cool.
You could have barbaric Redguards and Nords that have been isolated from the civilised nations ... as well as weird, new, demonic creatures that personify the series.
Or perhaps Elder Scrolls V: Assailing Akavir. Akavir has such an awesome story .... plus it will inject some much needed new races into the mix .... Vampiric serpents, Monkey men, and Snow Demons = Awesome ....
Plus you could have a very cool Island hopping travel adventure ... like removing fast travelling and just having ships ... and instead of being able to buy homes .. you can buy ships .... so you can go wherever you want to, whenever you want to n.n
Like Have ships that are like ... moving homes ... where you can employ redguard sailors and so forth ....
Like your character is supposed to be a prisoner-turn-hero/ine who becomes a living legend in all infamy .... might as well make it feel like you have entire civilisations rooting for your cause by having platoons of men guard your stash, and charge with you into combat when you make landfall onto a new island ....
Customisable ships would be cool too ... like if you want to be a pirate ... you'd have a smaller ship with a company of pirates on board, with carronades as opposed to th Long Barrels .... or if you want to be a Mercenary/Council Navy Captain (Remember ... emperor's lineage = dead :x) you have giant Dreadnaught-class ships with enough long ranged firepower to level a freaking city @.@
Or if you want to be a trader and work with the newly establish 'Council's Akaviri Trading Company', and have 'Caraval' like ships which are quick .. and you accept contracts of varying dangers to pick up a load from some dangerous Ad Hoc settlement, take it onboard, and guard it from pirates .... as you make your way back to a specific port...
I think it would inject some cool new features ... like having to pay docking fees, and dry dock fees to repair your vessel ... as well as it would *finally* punish high level players who don't plan a dungeon foray.
Like you need to pack enough food and clean water onboard to survive the trip, or if you treat your men like crap you can have a possible mutiny ... the benefit of having your own ship instead of being ferried around though is that you can command it to go wherever you want, whenever you want .... allowing you to plunder different islands far more easily. As well as epic sea battles ... like imagine .. foggy night ... pirate ship attacks .... a huge broadside leaves your vessel damaged ... Pirates board the vessel to attempt to take it over forcing you to fight alongside your men to retake control ....
I think that would be SOOOOO Cool @.@ Instead of just purchasing a House that just sits there and makes you no money, nor charges you any rates for being there .... you buy a house and it's like "Yay! .... " and 4 minutes later you're bored and not likely to return to most of them.
And instead of being a prisoner!! How about you're a shipwreck victim!? At the start of the game ... so a quasi-prisoner on a desolate island ... whose rescued .. and immediately gains a bit of influence in a small port (your starting base of operations...) after helping your saviour fight off a band of pirates from a mutinous colony 'far to the north' (main storyline ... add magic, necromancy, or political assassination ... your pick)?
