What we want from a Legend of Zelda movie

Nintendo and Sony Pictures are officially teaming up to produce a live-action Legend of Zelda movie. There’s no word yet on the video game adaptation’s story and who will star in it, but fans already have plenty of thoughts about what they want from the film – including the team here at Dexerto.

Like everyone else, there’s some stuff we’re taking as a given. For example, we’d be very surprised if the Legend of Zelda movie didn’t include Link and Princess Zelda, especially since Nintendo has promised the franchise’s fanbase it will be “deeply involved” in the production.

Similarly, we’re not expecting The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s Chris Pratt to land the Link role, despite the recent online buzz tying the Guardians of the Galaxy star to the project. It’s a fun bit of snark, but few of those posting about Pratt’s frontrunner status for The Legend of Zelda’s lead role actually take it seriously and neither do we. So, there’s no point wasting a slot on our wish list shooting down his casting.

This still leaves us with plenty of big questions about how Nintendo and Sony will translate Legend of Zelda into a live-action movie – and here’s how we want to see them answered.

1. An original Legend of Zelda story

As hardcore fans already know, the narrative of the Legend of Zelda video games largely follows an anthology format. Most (but not all) entries are indirect prequels or sequels set in different eras and starring different incarnations of Link, Zelda, and the rest of the core cast.

This is something the live-action movie should lean into. Telling an original story would free up director Wes Ball and screenwriter Derek Connolly to play to strengths of film as a medium in a way that an adaptation of Zelda games such as Ocarina of Time or Tears of the Kingdom wouldn’t.

What’s more, by adding to Legend of Zelda lore rather than rewriting it, the production even has a shot at being inducted into Nintendo’s official franchise canon!

2. Perfect casting over A-list stars

Tom Holland. Saoirse Ronan. Hunter Schafer. These are just some of the high-profile actors whose names Legend of Zelda devotees are currently putting forward online as potential candidates for the live-action adaptation’s lead roles. And they’d all probably do a decent job – but that doesn’t mean Nintendo and Sony should automatically hand the Legend of Zelda movie’s biggest parts to Hollywood A-listers.

Instead, they’d be well-served by taking a leaf out of Marvel Studios’ casting playbook and hiring actors not for their star power, but because they perfectly capture the essence of their respective characters. Ultimately, Link, Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, and the other inhabitants of Hyrule should be the draw of a Legend of Zelda film, and not the people playing them.

3. Link to talk (but not too much)

The Legend of Zelda franchise may be home to many different incarnations of the protagonist of Link, but they all have one key trait in common: they don’t talk. Like, at all. This isn’t an issue for video game storytelling, where all the characters around Link can deliver all the key exposition and do most of the emotional heavy lifting, however, it almost certainly wouldn’t work in a movie.

For Link to work as a fully-realized protagonist that audiences can root for, Nintendo and Sony need to break with franchise tradition and have him speak. That doesn’t mean Hero of Hyrule has to babble on incessantly for the live-action Legend of Zelda adaptation’s whole runtime – on the contrary, he should remain a man of few words. But a man of no words? Nuh-uh.

4. Real location sets for Hyrule

The Kingdom of Hyrule is one of the greatest virtual worlds in video game history. Across its various iterations, it boasts everything from twisted castles to floating sky islands that could only exist in a fantasy realm. At the same time, Hyrule’s overall geography – particularly in more recent titles such as Breath of the Wild – is still grounded in reality. Its grassy plains, scorched deserts, and snow-capped peaks are all reassuringly familiar.

This approach should carry across to the production design and filming of the Legend of Zelda movie. If Wes Ball and his team want viewers to buy into Hyrule as a real place, they need to construct real sets on real locations, rather than shoot the entire film in front of green screens or on the Volume. A bit of CGI here or there to extend or embellish on practical sets is fine – just use it sparingly, Wes Ball and team.

5. Shout-outs to Legend of Zelda canon

On the face of it, this entry seems to go against the whole “tell an original story” bit of business that kicked off this list. But as we noted then, a Legend of Zelda movie that doesn’t adapt one or more of the franchise’s existing stories arguably strengthens, rather than severs, its ties to the wider canon.

The upshot of this? There could and should be plenty of room for shout-outs to Legend of Zelda canon in the live-action film. This could come in the form of nods to the wider Zelda timeline, or namedropping less prominent characters and regions from the franchise’s lore.

Heck, the filmmakers could even look outside official continuity to work in Easter eggs inspired by the late 80s Legend of Zelda animated series or the various manga series published over the years. So long as these shout-outs don’t get in the way of the story itself, fans will eat them up.

For all the latest The Legend of Zelda news and updates, be sure to check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.