Sam Neill’s Final On-Screen Role to Appear in The Legend of Zelda Film
Sam Neill completed his final on-screen role in the live-action The Legend of Zelda film before his death in July.
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Aug 12, 2026
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3 min readThe late Sam Neill completed work on the live-action The Legend of Zelda film before his death in July, making the high-profile project one of his final on-screen appearances.
Nintendo and Sony Pictures have not officially detailed Neill’s role, but the actor’s posthumous involvement adds emotional weight to a cast that already reads as a generational assembly of screen talent.
Principal photography on the film wrapped in New Zealand in April 2026, according to multiple reports, roughly two months before Neill’s passing on July 13.
The project had begun production in November 2025. Neill’s appearance was disclosed alongside several other new castings that Deadline reported on August 6, citing its sources, none of which were named.
Assembling the Cast
New additions include Dichen Lachman as Impa, the franchise’s royal bodyguard, and Yvonne Strahovski as a queen character.
Sources also told Deadline that Uli Latukefu would play the villain Ganondorf, and that Lydia Peckham has joined in an unspecified role.
None of these castings has been officially confirmed by Nintendo or Sony.
Earlier casting locked in [Benjamin Evan Ainsworth](link placeholder) as Link and Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda.
Ainsworth, an English teenager, earned his break on The Haunting of Bly Manor, went on to voice Pinocchio in Disney’s 2022 live-action remake, and appeared in Netflix’s The Sandman and Disney+’s Flora & Ulysses.
He is currently part of the cast of House of the Dragon season 3 as Daeron Targaryen.
Link, the Hylian adventurer and wielder of the Master Sword, is the central hero across more than 20 video games in Nintendo’s franchise.
Australian actress Samara Weaving has also reportedly joined the production, with one report claiming she is playing the Goddess Hylia.
Neither Nintendo nor Sony Pictures has confirmed her casting, and no character details have been disclosed.
Behind the Camera
Wes Ball, director of the Maze Runner trilogy, is helming the adaptation.
Jurassic World writer Derek Connolly penned the script.
The project is co-financed by Nintendo, which is contributing over 50% of the budget, and Sony, which will also handle distribution.
Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s Representative Director and a franchise co-creator, is producing alongside Avi Arad, Chairman of Arad Productions Inc.
The film has shifted release dates twice.
Originally set for March 26, 2027, it was pushed to May 7 before moving up a week to its current April 30, 2027 opening.
Official plot details remain under wraps, and Nintendo has not confirmed which games will inform the story.
Confirmed characters to appear include Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and Impa.
The adaptation follows the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the 3D animated film that opened in the U.S. and over 60 markets worldwide in April 2023 and helped prove Nintendo’s appetite for theatrical releases.
With Neill now part of that lineage, the Zelda film carries a bittersweet distinction before a single frame has been shown publicly.
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