Zelda Movie’s Link Actor Benjamin Ainsworth on Breath of the Wild

If you’re deciding whether to care about the upcoming live-action Zelda movie, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth’s comments on Breath of the Wild offer a useful signal: he didn’t experience the game at launch, but he made sure to learn it through online playthroughs—and now he’s stepping into the role of Link. Here’s what he said, why it matters for fans, and what to watch for next as Nintendo’s Zelda plans approach their next big reveal window.

What changed: Ainsworth’s Breath of the Wild background

Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, best known as the actor playing Link in the live-action The Legend of Zelda movie, shared his early relationship with Breath of the Wild in an interview with GamesRadar+. He said he was too young to play the game when it released, and he didn’t have a Nintendo Switch at the time. Instead, he followed along by watching other players and online playthroughs.

Ainsworth also framed that experience as part of how he’s grown into the franchise. While he avoided going into details about the movie itself, he emphasized that once he was fortunate enough to take on such an iconic role, he went back to understand the character’s long history—pointing to the series’ four-decade legacy and the different tones, stories, and portrayals associated with Link over the years. The takeaway for fans: his familiarity wasn’t built through playing at launch, but through studying the game and the wider Zelda lineage once the opportunity became real.

Who’s affected: Fans connecting Breath of the Wild to the big-screen Zelda

Breath of the Wild has become a defining modern entry in The Legend of Zelda series since launching alongside Nintendo Switch in 2017. Over the last nine years, it’s earned a reputation as one of the most acclaimed games in the franchise, with some even calling it the greatest game ever.

That reputation, plus its commercial scale—more than 34 million copies sold—means many players associate Zelda today primarily with Breath of the Wild. The source notes this creates a strong likelihood the movie could draw from the game’s elements, even though it’s unclear which specific Zelda titles the adaptation will cover.

Still, the film isn’t likely to be a one-game translation. Adaptations rarely pull from a single source, so fans can reasonably expect nods to other Zelda favorites as well. In other words, Ainsworth’s comments land at a time when the franchise’s modern audience already has a “default” Zelda reference point—and the movie may be positioned to meet that expectation.

What comes next: Release timing and Nintendo’s secrecy

The live-action Zelda movie is set to arrive in theaters on April 30, 2027. Alongside Ainsworth as Link, Bo Bragason is also announced as the Princess.

With the release date less than a year away, the source suggests more details should surface soon, and it highlights speculation that Nintendo could hold a Nintendo Direct tied to the series’ 40th anniversary. That would be a logical moment to reveal the first trailer, especially given Nintendo’s history of coordinating big announcements around movie launches like the Mario films.

Nintendo, meanwhile, has kept much of its Zelda roadmap tightly under wraps. An Ocarina of Time remake is coming to Switch 2, but the source says no gameplay has been shown despite a planned release by the end of 2026. A presentation covering both the remake and the upcoming movie could give fans more to work with, and the source also mentions a rumor that an Ocarina of Time gameplay reveal could happen in September—though it remains unconfirmed.

What players should know

• Ainsworth didn’t play Breath of the Wild at launch because he was too young and didn’t have a Switch—he followed via online playthroughs.
• His comments suggest he’s actively familiarizing himself with Link’s long history and different portrayals across the Zelda series.
• Breath of the Wild’s massive reach (34M+ sales) makes it a likely reference point for how the movie connects with today’s audience.
• Nintendo has not shown Zelda gameplay for the Ocarina of Time remake yet, even with a late-2026 target, so major reveals may be coming via a presentation.

Expert View

Ainsworth’s “watched playthroughs first” origin story doesn’t automatically make him less prepared—if anything, it explains why he sounds so focused on the character’s legacy once he landed the role. The bigger question for fans is how the movie balances Breath of the Wild’s modern identity with the wider Zelda library. Given the game’s reach and the franchise’s history, expect the film to lean on recognizable touchstones rather than commit to a single-title adaptation.