Zelda’s new live-action stars could be around for a long time

Nintendo just announced the two leads of its live-action Legend of Zelda film, and unlike the celebrity-packed Mario movie cast, Zelda will star two young, lesser-known actors: Bo Bragason as Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. You may not have heard of them, but there’s a good chance they’re going to be a part of the franchise for a while.

Choosing stars who are in their teens (Ainsworth) and early 20s (Bragason) makes a lot of sense. In the games, even the “older” Links and Zeldas are still typically young adults, so Bragason and Ainsworth seem like they’ll fit the mold. (Yes, I know Link and Zelda are technically older than 100 in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, but they look good for their age.) The choice of younger actors gives them both room to grow into the roles in any potential sequels — which, given Nintendo’s growing ambitions beyond video games, the company must already be starting to consider.

The Zelda movie has the potential to be a similarly huge hit. The franchise is arguably as popular as it has ever been; Breath of the Wild was the fourth-best-selling game on the original Switch, after all, and Tears of the Kingdom was an excellent followup. If this first Zelda film is even halfway decent, Bragason and Ainsworth might be representative of Zelda and Link for an entire generation of fans.

The two aren’t complete unknowns – Ainsworth voiced Pinocchio in Disney’s 2022 version of the film and played a major role in Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor – but Nintendo is still taking a gamble by hinging a potentially risky adaptation on them. They’ll likely be in good hands with Wes Ball as director, though, who is known for his work directing the Maze Runner trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Nintendo is borrowing from a proven strategy here. Warner Bros. recently introduced its second trio of young leads for Harry Potter, and they’ll be the faces of a new decade-long series for HBO, much like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint were before them for the Harry Potter films. Netflix has similarly stuck with the Stranger Things kids all the way through the end, even though the first season debuted nearly 10 years ago.

The Legend of Zelda film could be Nintendo’s next breakout cultural moment when it debuts in May 2027. If it is, we’ll probably be seeing a lot more adventures starring Zelda and Link.