As much as I would love a new playable race, they should have them as NPCs to establish them properly, then in the time gap between games, have them do something that makes them more politically and socially powerful so they can become a playable race.

It's possible, but what's the point? If they should add them to a game after Skyrim, it's like adding Ayleids to Sumerset Isle or Akaviri as an playable race in Tamriel. They would be too unbalanced anyway, with an way superior human race to inhabit Skyrim. But I'm completely in for adding them as rare dungeon encounters. VERY rare.

The Ayleids are all extinct so that's just silly. Who said the Falmer were a superior race? If they were, the Nords wouldn't have beaten them. The Falmer would just have different racial benefits and it wouldn't be in anywat unbalancing.

And by I meant having them establish their own mini-province like Orsinium or them taking over Skyrim or help out in an important war or something.

Yes, something similar to Yagrum.

I'd love an extremely hard to find cave (perhaps branching off through a long labyrinth in another cave, near the peak of High Hrothgar), where a small collection of Falmer live, however they would attack you on sight rather than sitting around and talking, meaning that either you, or they, would not live to tell the tale.

I think they should be refered to in rumors and lore. If they were an actual in game race, they should only be very rare NPCs. Maybe a lost tribe at the bottom of a dungeon, very tribal in nature, and not necessarily hostile but very wary of outsiders at first. Maybe you could do a quest for them and they would open up to your character about their history and possible plans for the future.

The Falmore are more extinct than the Ayleids. There are still plenty of people with Ayleid blood in Summurset and Valenwood, as well as Cyrodiil. They aren't culturally Ayleid any longer, but they are still around. Falmer, on the other hand, are mentioned mostly in creation myths and legends, and even back at the end of the 2nd era their existence was disputed.

Oh well... Hey! I'm sure someone will make a Falmer race mod! So no worries!

orcs smell funny

They can be npcs, because thing is, I don't think you'd want to get attach to that race and they are not in as a playable race the next game, unless they can fit in, I don't know much about them though so I'll leave it as just that. Though I will say maybe as an DLC playable race or something.

they are extinct, so it may be possible that they are like the dwarves in morrowind where they are just rare, and maybe one or 2 of them will be in old ruins or something. but in any case they will not be a playable character. i hope there will be some ingame references though because i would like to learn more about them.

They are as dead as the Dwarves.

My hopes on the falmer in Skyrim:

Raisonnable : we've some lore about them in books
Lucky : there's a mission about them and we will actually founds some archeological site that prove that they actually existed and they are not only mere legends.
Extremely lucky : there's actually some living and breathing falmer in the game somewhere

I'll accept your Falmer when I get my Imga. Sload and Maormer if we're going for out of Tamriel races.

They weren't legends, read Fall of the Snow Prince