Nintendo Confirms Actors For Live Action Legend of Zelda Movie
Shigeru Miyamoto, the Japanese video game designer perhaps best known for creating The Legend of Zelda (alongside Takashi Tezuka), recently announced the lead actors for the live action movie on the official Nintendo X account.
The movie was first announced in 2023, with Wes Ball (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Maze Runner) attached as director, Now, after plenty of rumours and speculation, Miyamoto has confirmed who will play Link and Princess Zelda.
“This is Miyamoto. I am pleased to announce that for the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda will be played by Bo Bragason-san, and Link by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth-san. I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen.”
Jump to:
Fresh Faces
Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is a young British actor, who has appeared in The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix, and the recently released movie Everything’s Going to Be Great, with Bryan Cranston. Bo Bragason is also a young Brit, best known for roles in BBC shows such as Jetty and Three Girls, but who most recently appeared in the Disney+ series Renegade Nell.
Wes Ball is still linked with the film, as is Avi Arad (an executive producer on multiple Marvel movies). Miyamoto is also onboard as a producer, so gamers worried how faithful the film will be to the source material needn’t worry.
Link to The Past
The Legend of Zelda video game was released in 1986 on the NES, but already followed Miyamoto’s success as the producer for Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong. His aim with The Legend of Zelda was to show what games could be capable of using the NES console’s hardware, including its Memory Map Controller chip.
This led to an open world with multiple paths, on-cartridge save data, and even in-game inventory screens (a major innovation at the time). The core story of the first game follows Link, a young adventurer in the land of Hyrule, who has to rescue Princess Zelda and defeat Ganon/Ganandorf, an evil pig/wizard. Link can achieve this by collecting the fragments of an artifact called the Triforce.
To date, there have been over 20 main entries into the Zelda series. Link to The Past, which was directed by Tezuka and debuted on the SNES in 1991, is often held up as the gold standard of the franchise. Although it hasn’t been without quite a few hits and experiments, including a cartoon series, and Game And Watch version that was one of the first in that format to include a Continue button.
The Legend of Zelda movie is currently set for release on May 7, 2027, and marks the latest adaptation from Nintendo following the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023.
