Key Takeaways
- Nintendo and Sony have titled their live-action adaptation The Legend of Zelda and scheduled it for April 30, 2027, with Nintendo financing more than half of the production.
- Wes Ball will direct Bo Bragason as Zelda, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, Uli Latukefu as Ganondorf, Dichen Lachman as Impa, and Yvonne Strahovski as an unnamed queen.
- The late Sam Neill completed an undisclosed role before his death, while first-look images have already revealed the leads in costume, and a live-action trailer will arrive next week.
Nintendo and Sony are finally putting more definition around their live-action trip to Hyrule.
According to Deadline, the companies’ upcoming Zelda movie now officially carries the straightforward title The Legend of Zelda, with the Wes Ball-directed adaptation scheduled to hit theaters on April 30, 2027. The latest details also make clear just how heavily Nintendo is invested in bringing one of its biggest franchises to Hollywood—the company is providing more than half of the financing for the Sony co-production.
For a project that has kept most of its story under wraps, the details are starting to fill in quickly.
Bo Bragason is leading the cast as Princess Zelda opposite Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, while Uli Latukefu will play Ganondorf, the franchise’s signature villain. Severance star Dichen Lachman is also aboard as Impa, Zelda’s longtime advisor and protector, with The Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski appearing as a queen character.
The late Sam Neill will also appear in the movie. The Jurassic Park actor completed his role before his death on July 13 at age 78, making The Legend of Zelda one of his final screen performances. His character has not been disclosed.
Behind the camera, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes filmmaker Wes Ball is directing from a script whose most recent draft was written by T.S. Nowlin. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and veteran producer Avi Arad are producing.
Miyamoto previously introduced Bragason and Ainsworth as the film’s two leads, writing, “I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen.”
Audiences have already gotten an early glimpse of exactly that. First-look images released through Nintendo’s app showed Bragason and Ainsworth fully transformed into Zelda and Link, complete with Hylian ears and costumes recognizable from the games. Zelda appeared carrying a bow and arrow while the pair stood against a wide green landscape.
The adaptation comes as Nintendo continues expanding The Legend of Zelda well beyond its original 1986 roots. The franchise surged into another era with Breath of the Wild, which reworked the Zelda formula around open-world exploration and became the bestselling installment in the series.
