Roles of Link and Zelda Cast for Live Action “Legend of Zelda”
Nintendo announced in November 2023 that they would be making a live action film of their beloved Legend of Zelda, set to be directed by Wes Ball, director of “The Maze Runner” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.” “Legend of Zelda” is planned to be a trilogy, the first movie coming out May 2027, and as the ball starts rolling on production the roles of Link and Zelda have officially been cast.
The role of Zelda will be played by 21-year-old English actress Bo Bragason, known for “The Radleys” and “Renegade Nell,” and Link will be played by 16-year-old English actor Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, known for “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Everything’s Going to be Great.” Since both of the actors are English, it’s possible that the live-action universe they’re creating for Hyrule includes British accents, but that’s something we’ll have to wait for other casting announcements and/or the trailer to see.
While there had been fan-casts of the two leads going around that included adult actors like Hunter Schafer and Tom Holland, the casting for this film was specifically looking for teen or young adult actors in the age range of 16 to 23 years old. This is most likely to stay accurate to the source material, and also to make sure that the actors don’t “age out of their roles” during the filming of three movies over the course of six years.
Creating a film based on Legend of Zelda will be tricky. The video games have been culturally relevant and adored for decades, with an extremely passionate fanbase built around them. For IP like this, it will be hard to please everybody – some fans of the franchise are already disappointed that the film will be live action instead of animation, and many other fans don’t have high hopes that it’ll do the games justice. But Wes Ball promises that fans will be happy, saying last year in an interview with The Direct that he will “go to the ends of the earth” to make sure the fans are happy. It will be interesting to see what comes to theaters in 2027!
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