British actors Bo Bragason, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth cast in live-action The Legend Of Zelda film

TOKYO – Two British actors will play the lead roles in the hotly anticipated live-action film adaptation of The Legend Of Zelda (1986 to present) video game franchise, Japan’s Nintendo announced.

The movie’s release is set for May 2027, joining a stream of big-screen game adaptations from Super Mario (1985 to present) to Sonic The Hedgehog (1991 to present) that have stormed the box office in recent years.

Bo Bragason will play Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will play Link, an elf warrior who swordfights his way through a monster-filled fantasy world, Nintendo said on social media platform X on July 16.

“I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen,” said the post attributed to game designer and Nintendo executive Shigeru Miyamoto.

Miyamoto, the co-producer of Super Mario, created the Zelda universe in 1986. Since then, the hugely popular series has sold more than 140 million games worldwide.

Its latest instalment, 2024‘s The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom, saw the titular character shed her role as a damsel in distress to be the heroine for the first time.

Bragason, 21, previously starred in British TV series like Three Girls (2017) and Renegade Nell (2024), while Ainsworth, 16, provided the voice of Pinocchio in the 2022 live-action movie of the same name and appeared in the horror series The Haunting Of Bly Manor (2020).

Before the announcement, online speculation had been rife that American trans actress Hunter Schafer, known for hit HBO show Euphoria (2019 to present), might be picked for the part of Zelda.

The movie, directed by American film-maker Wes Ball of the Maze Runner (2014 to 2018) film trilogy, is a big-screen first for Zelda, although the game was adapted for a 13-episode animated series in 1989.

Movie adaptations of hit video games have become big business, with Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie the second-highest grossing film of 2023, with US$1.36 billion (S$1.75 billion).

Among other titles being developed into films are Japan’s Elden Ring (2022 to present) and US life-simulation game series The Sims (2000 to present). AFP

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