Nintendo has revealed who will be the two protagonists of the next live-action movie of ‘The Legend of Zelda’. This project raised a lot of expectations since it was announced, not only because of how beloved the saga is within the video game scene, but also out of curiosity about how the plot would be adapted to a live-action format.
Goodbye to Hunter Schafer: the live-action movie of ‘The Legend of Zelda’ already has its Link and Zelda
Through a publication in X, the official Nintendo account in Japanese has revealed who has been chosen to head the cast of ‘The Legend of Zelda’, the live-action movie that will adapt the video game saga of the same name to the big screen in 2027. The selected actors are Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who will play Link, and Bo Bragason, who will play Zelda.
宮本です。「ゼルダの伝説」の実写映画は、ゼルダ役をBo Bragasonさん、リンク役をBenjamin Evan Ainsworthさんに演じていただくことになりました。おふたりの出演が今から楽しみです。「ゼルダの伝説」実写映画は2027年5⽉7⽇に劇場公開予定です。もうしばらくお待ちください。 pic.twitter.com/jctWHvvYgi
— 任天堂株式会社 (@Nintendo) July 16, 2025
Both of these performers are young and relatively unknown. Ainsworth was most recently seen and heard in ‘Pinocchio’ (2022) as the voice of the doll that comes to life, and in an episode of Netflix’s ‘Sandman’ (2022). Bo Bragason, on the other hand, was most recently seen in ‘The Radleys’ (2024). In this way, Nintendo and Sony Pictures are betting on emerging talent to give life to two of the most iconic characters in video games. Of course, the choice is a cold water for Hunter Schafer, very popular as a possible option for Zelda, and who even applied for the role that finally will not have.
The Zelda movie will be produced by Avi Arad and Shigeru Miyamoto and directed by Wes Ball, who we already saw behind the cameras on ‘Pinocchio’. Maybe his experience with Benjamin Evan Ainsworth during the production of this other feature film has tipped the scales in favor of the actor, opening the door to this other major project. For the time being, no further details are known about the rest of the cast or the plot itself.
The Legend of Zelda franchise was born in 1986, with the release of the first video game of the same name for the NES. Since then, it has become one of the main pillars of Nintendo’s success alongside other established franchises such as Super Mario, Animal Crossing or Pokëmon. The most recent installment of the series is The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, released in 2024.
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