The Reason the Live-Action Link Had Never Played Zelda Will Make You Feel Old

Few Nintendo franchises carry as much generational magic as The Legend of Zelda. Whether your personal gateway to Hyrule was exploring pixelated dungeons on the NES, venturing through Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time, sailing cel-shaded seas in The Wind Waker, or tackling shrine puzzles in Breath of the Wild, every gamer has a specific era that defined their childhood.

But as Nintendo and Sony Pictures prepare to bring Link to the big screen in an unexpected live-action feature movie, a recent interview with the lead star just delivered a reality check that is bound to give long-time fans some serious existential dread.

A Reality Check From Hyrule’s Next Hero

With the live-action movie currently targeting an April 30, 2027 release date, details surrounding the production have been kept under tight lock and key. However, young actor Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who is playing Link after booking a major role as Daeron Targaryen in the hit TV show House of the Dragon, recently sat down with GamesRadar to chat about his career.

Naturally, the conversation quickly turned toward the responsibility of wearing the iconic green tunic. While the 17-year-old actor couldn't divulge specific plot details, he dropped a fascinating nugget about his personal history with the franchise that will instantly make you feel old – and this is quite serious, as I am literally rethinking my entire life while staring at my Nintendo 64 cartridges sitting on my desk right now.

Reflecting on the groundbreaking release of Breath of the Wild back in 2017, Ainsworth admitted that he missed out on playing the title when it first took the gaming world by storm, simply because of how shockingly young he was at the time.

"I remember being quite young at the time when it came out," Ainsworth shared during the interview. He explained that he didn't own a Nintendo Switch back in 2017, so instead of playing it himself, he spent his time watching full gameplay playthroughs on YouTube. If you need a quick mathematical sanity check to ruin your day: when BotW launched and redefined open-world game design, the live-action Link was literally only eight years old.

And as if that wasn't enough to make us feel like ancient fossils, the young actor went on to explain that missing out on day-one Switch ownership didn't stop him from doing his homework once he scored the role of a lifetime. He highlighted just how legendary and ancient the series is, putting special emphasis on the fact that The Legend of Zelda boasts four decades of existence.

"[By] going back and realizing the 40 years of legacy and history, and the varied tones, the varied stories, the varied renditions and vocal performances of this character as well," he noted. Sure, Ainsworth, we get it – it indeed is a multi-decade franchise, but there is really no point in constantly reminding us of our age, okay?

Jokes aside, it is genuinely cool to see how the young actor appreciated the scale of the franchise he is inheriting! He also said he spent considerable time studying the series' history, even if he didn't explicitly detail whether his research finally involved picking up a controller to beat Breath of the Wild or any other classic entry himself.

While we still know very little about the film's actual narrative, production has wrapped up extensive shooting in New Zealand under the direction of Wes Ball, of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Maze Runner. Ainsworth couldn't reveal how his version of Link sounds or behaves on camera, but he enthusiastically noted that the whole experience was “an awesome thing to shoot.”

Even if the live-action movie won't arrive in cinemas quite in time for the franchise's official 40th anniversary milestone, Zelda fans still have plenty to celebrate in the near future. Between the Ocarina of Time remake heading to Switch 2 in 2026 and a Hollywood blockbuster on the horizon, our return to Hyrule is closer than ever (and thank God for that!).