For months, Nintendo admirers have been fan-casting the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. Truth be told, I was starting to believe some of the speculation.
And can you blame me? The previous casting announcement from Nintendo was for the Super Mario Bros. Movie, and at the time, I felt like Miyamoto was playing a prank on us all. Especially with the opening announcement that the iconic Italian plumber would be played by… Chris Pratt (“he’s so cool”).
This reaction video from Arlo sums up the state of our household watching along that evening, with each name that was dropped adding a further layer of hilarity:
So, when the news first broke that Nintendo would follow it up with an adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, I was mentally preparing myself for an A-lister such as Timothée Chalamet or Tom Holland to step into the role of Link, and for the array of reaction videos that would inevitably follow.
No disrespect to those actors, who have certainly proven themselves several times over – I’m very pumped for both Dune: Part Three and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
For Princess Zelda, Euphoria actress Hunter Schafer was a frontrunner for her similar appearance to the character, as was The Witcher’s Freya Allan. Again, two very respectable performers.
That said, a live-action film is very different to the animated Mario movie. In my mind, therefore, the roles should go to the right actors, rather than the biggest names in Hollywood.
But Nintendo hasn’t gone down the expected route this time.
Who has Nintendo cast as Zelda and Link for the live-action The Legend of Zelda film?
Instead, Nintendo has cast Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, and Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda – two up-and-coming English actors with a few impressive credits to their portfolios, but certainly not the household names that many people were expecting.
This news was shared along with the release date, which is set for 7 May 2027.
It’s way too early to consider how their performances will be, but I’m already hopeful about this decision. The final voices for Mario were… mixed, to say the least. It just seemed like Nintendo had gone for the biggest names in the hope of getting more bums on seats (which, in all fairness, seems to have worked, as the film became one of the highest-grossing game adaptations of all time).
But by casting two relatively unknown names, Nintendo is breaking that mould and has clearly gone through a process to find the right fit (at least, I hope). I suspect that right now, you may be considering hunting down clips of both these performers. Fortunately, I’ve done the hard work for you.
Ainsworth, who is just 16 years old, is best known for his role as Miles in Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix, but he’s also appeared in Disney’s Flora & Ulysses, and was the voice of the titular puppet in the live-action Pinocchio (which, where was the marketing for that? I barely remember it releasing).
Here’s a clip of him in action from the movie Everything’s Going to be Great, with TV legend Bryan Cranston:
One of the biggest things audiences are wondering is whether the film will stick to its roots and keep Link mute, as he is in the games. If they did make him talk, it wouldn’t be the first time, but fans of the animated Zelda series mostly agree that this arrogant tool would have been better off staying silent.
Meanwhile, Zelda actress Bragason is best known for her roles in BBC’s Three Girls as Rachel Winshaw and The Jetty as Amy Knightly, as well as Disney+’s Renegade Neil as Roxy Jackson. You can see a clip of her in action from The Jetty below:
Nintendo hasn’t released any footage of the pair together as Zelda and Link, and we’ll likely be waiting a while for it, as the film is nearly two years away at this point. We also don’t know what it will be about. For example, will it take inspiration from a specific title, such as Breath of the Wild, or pave its own way?
Whatever direction they choose, I’m not dreading it like I was the Mario movie – and that’s a start.
While you wait for the new The Legend of Zelda film, you can read our Nintendo Switch 2 review and our list of the best Switch 2 games, which includes a Zelda title.