Nintendo and Miyamoto have just announced the two lead actors in 2027's live-action Zelda movie. We now know that both lead roles will be played by British actors, with Link portrayed by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Pinocchio) and Bo Bragason (Three Girls) appearing as Zelda .
While neither is a household name, that seems likely to change in a couple of years, given the high-profile nature of this production. Ainsworth’s voiced Pinocchio in 2022's live-action Disney movie, as well as appearing in Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor in 2020. Only 17-years-old at the time of the announcement, it gives us a good idea of the sort of Link we’re going to see on film, presumably pitched as a teenage hero in the lands of Hyrule.
Zelda actor Bo Bragason is four years older, now 21, best known in the UK for various dramatic roles as a teenager. She had a prominent part in last year’s Disney+ series Renegade Nell as Roxy Jackson, and like Ainsworth, is a rising star rather than an established lead actor. It’s fantastic that the production is taking this route, rather than leaning on star power.
Shigeru Miyamoto took to the Nintendo’s Japanese X account to make the announcement, saying, “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.”
He continued in a second tweet, confirming the movie’s release date, “The film s scheduled to be released in theaters on May 7, 2027. Thank you for your patience.”
The film is to be directed by Wes Bell, who previously directed the Maze Runner movies, along with last year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Miyamoto is producing, alongside Avi Arad, best known as the former chief creative officer at Marvel. Both Nintendo and Arad Productions are behind the project, which presumably has yet to start filming.
This is Nintendo’s first foray into live-action cinema, following The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s animated success in 2023. That film has a sequel due out next year, with The Legend of Zelda due out the year after. It also seems like a Donkey Kong animated movie is due some time as well.
.