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The long-anticipated live-action adaptation of Nintendo’s celebrated franchise moved further into the spotlight this week, after leaked footage from a New Zealand set appeared to reveal new casting details for the film titled ‘Legend of Zelda’, sparking intense speculation among fans.
The video, shared online by content creator Tony Olsen, shows actor Dichen Lachman in costume resembling the franchise’s guardian figure Impa, with long grey braids, a fitted tunic, a wide leather belt and a naginata-style blade that closely mirrors designs from Hyrule Warriors and Age of Calamity.
Observers noted that Lachman’s appearance in the footage aligns with the character’s established visual profile, leading many on Reddit and other platforms to conclude she is portraying Impa, although neither Nintendo nor Sony has confirmed her participation in the cast.
The leak emerged days after the studios released the first official stills of Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, captured in a wide green field and showing both actors in Hylian-inspired costumes complete with pointed ears.
Director Wes Ball, previously known for the Maze Runner series, is overseeing the project and has described it as a film created “by a fan for fans”, with Nintendo maintaining close involvement under the supervision of Shigeru Miyamoto to ensure fidelity to the franchise’s spirit.
Miyamoto has stressed that directly copying video-game plot structures “will never work as a movie”, signalling that the adaptation will pursue a fresh narrative while drawing from various instalments in the series, including visual cues from Breath of the Wild.
The set footage also shows Ainsworth wearing a green tunic strongly reminiscent of Link’s traditional attire, reinforcing suggestions that the film will blend costume elements from multiple eras of the game to construct its own interpretation of the characters.
Bragason, 21, brings experience from BBC One’s ‘Three Girls’, ‘The Jetty’ and Disney+’s ‘Renegade Nell’, while Ainsworth, 16, previously appeared in ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ and voiced Pinocchio in Robert Zemeckis’s live-action version, adding youthful but seasoned talent to the production.
Filming is under way in New Zealand, with the leaked clips and official images prompting widespread online enthusiasm as fans continue to debate plot possibilities, character arcs and design choices for a film expected to deviate from strict game narratives.
Sony and Nintendo have scheduled the worldwide release of ‘Legend of Zelda’ for May 7, 2027, while the studio handling the Impa leak maintains a separate date of March 26, 2027 for related project material, though no trailer or story synopsis has yet been made public.
