For almost as long as Hunter Schafer has been famous, people have been fancasting her asPrincess Zelda. All the way back in 2022, the Euphoria actress was asked about the prospect of playing the princess in a then-hypothetical film adaptation of theNintendoproperty, and said that, yes, she wouldabsolutely be into it. Unfortunately — for fans and Schafer — that dream is no more. This week,Nintendo announced the cast for its upcoming live-action Zelda film, and the lead roles went to a pair of younger and lesser-known actors.
“This is Miyamoto,” the official Nintendo account tweeted, and despite beginning with the three words every Nintendo fan longs to hear, the announcement quickly took a turn. “I am pleased to announce that for the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda will be played by Bo Bragason-san, and Link by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth-san. I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen.”
Miyamoto goes on to say that the film will hit theaters on Jul 05, 2025. So… there’s still time.
A Younger Link And Zelda
This casting gives us a glimpse into the direction Nintendo is taking for the Zelda film, and why it would preclude casting Schafer, who is 26 years old. At 21, Bragason is five years younger and, at 16, Evan Ainsworth is a full decade younger. Though Schafer got her start playing a teenager on Euphoria, she’s quickly aging out of that demographic. If Nintendo wants to make a story about teenage Link and Zelda, going with younger actors makes sense.
But that doesn’t mean Schafer wouldn’t have been a great choice. She became a popular fancast for a number of reasons. Most importantly, she looks the part. She’s tall, blonde, and beautiful in the same elegant way that Princess Zelda is tall, blonde, and beautiful. She often styles her hair in ways that draw attention to her ears so, while she doesn’t have Zelda’s pointy elf ears, they’re similarly prominent. She looks like incredibly realistic concept art of a live-action Princess Zelda. She justdoes.
She’s also a talented actress, which seems relevant. I skipped Euphoria (which my colleague Tessa Kaur says is Schafer’s best performance), but I’ve enjoyed her film work, especially in Cuckoo. And she has good taste, too, working with Yorgos Lanthimos on Kinds of Kindness, the Greek auteur’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Poor Things. When she took on a franchise role, it wasn’t a big superhero part that would keep her busy for a decade; it was a one-off part in aHunger Gamesmovie. She has smartly kept her options open, and honestly, not getting stuck in a big franchise like Zelda is probably good for her continuing to do interesting work.
What Could Have Been…
But a big part of the reason for her support is that Link and Zelda have always been gender-defying characters. Link wears women’s clothes to infiltrate Gerudo Town inBreath of the Wild, and Zelda disguises herself as Sheik, a male ninja-esque warrior, inOcarina of Time. These games, historically, have not shied away from characters presenting themselves in ways that don’t square with their gender assigned at birth, and it would have been fitting to see a trans actress get the opportunity to bring one of those characters to life.
Nintendo likely would have been in for a tidal wave of controversy from the anti-woke crowd if ithadcast Schafer as the lead in a major family movie. That’s part of the reason fans wanted it to happen; to symbolically move beyond the bigotry that keeps queer people out of leading roles. Nintendo took a safer route. Maybe that route opened the door for cool creative stories that wouldn’t have worked with an older Zelda. Maybe it was a purely financial decision. We don’t know, and maybe never will.
But at a time when trans people are increasingly under attack around the world, and specifically in Schafer’s home country, the United States — to the extent thatshe has said her gender marker was changed to male on a passport issued this year— it would have been cool to see a trans actress leading a major Hollywood franchise. It would have been a symbolic victory, true, but those matter, too.
Bragason and Evan-Ainsworth will likely be great in the film, and it’s often wise to cast relative unknowns for roles like this so that audiences can focus on the character, not the weight of the performer’s previous roles and off-screen persona. Plus, fancasting often operates purely on the level of looks, not on the basis of what a particular movie needs. It would have been cool to see Schafer in the role. But this direction may be better for everyone involved.
