Bo Bragason is still keeping Nintendo’s secrets, but the actress behind Princess Zelda has shared a little more about what it was like stepping into Hyrule for the upcoming live-action The Legend of Zelda movie.
In a new interview with i-D, Bragason reflected on the months she spent in New Zealand filming the highly anticipated adaptation. While she understandably stopped well short of revealing anything about the story, her comments give us another glimpse at just how large-scale the production appears to have been.
For Bragason, one of the things that stood out most wasn’t a costume, a set, or even the pressure of playing one of Nintendo’s most recognizable characters. It was New Zealand itself.
The 22-year-old actress described the country as feeling almost like another world, saying its natural scenery could be difficult to fully process while she was there. Bragason recalled taking lunch breaks on location and looking up to find enormous mountains towering over the production.
At times, she had to remind herself that what she was looking at was actually real.
“I can’t wait for people to see it,” Bragason told i-D.
New Zealand Could Be a Perfect Stand-In for Hyrule
For Zelda fans, those comments are especially interesting.
Nintendo and Sony filmed The Legend of Zelda extensively in New Zealand, a country already famous for providing the sweeping fantasy landscapes of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films. Principal photography wrapped in April 2026 after several months of production.
Exactly how much of the finished movie will rely on real landscapes rather than constructed environments or visual effects remains to be seen, but Bragason’s comments certainly suggest the production made good use of its surroundings.
That could prove to be an excellent fit for The Legend of Zelda. From the rolling fields of Hyrule to towering mountains, forests, lakes, and ruined kingdoms, exploring a vast natural world has been at the center of the series for decades. That sense of scale became particularly important in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
It is still far too early to say whether the film will visually resemble either of those games, but hearing Bragason talk about being overwhelmed by the scenery is encouraging for anyone hoping to see a believable Hyrule on the big screen.
Bragason Is Getting Used to Dodging Zelda Questions
The actress also acknowledged one of the stranger parts of becoming Princess Zelda: being interviewed about a movie she is largely forbidden from discussing.
Plot details surrounding the adaptation remain closely guarded, leaving Bragason to find increasingly creative ways of talking about the experience without revealing anything Nintendo would rather keep secret.
That secrecy has surrounded the project from the beginning.
Nintendo officially revealed Bragason as Princess Zelda in July 2025, alongside Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. The first official images of the pair in costume followed in November, giving fans their first proper look at the movie’s versions of the legendary Hylian hero and princess.
Since then, information has arrived slowly, although additional casting details have begun surfacing as the movie moves deeper into post-production.
Who Is Bo Bragason?
By the time audiences see her wearing Zelda’s pointed ears, Bragason will already have built up a surprisingly varied résumé.
Her previous television work includes Disney+ fantasy series Renegade Nell, BBC drama The Jetty, and historical series King & Conqueror. More recently, she appears as Oona in Sterling Point, the Prime Video young-adult series that forms much of the focus of her new i-D interview.
Still, The Legend of Zelda represents a completely different level of visibility.
Playing Zelda places Bragason at the center of Nintendo and Sony’s attempt to bring one of gaming’s most celebrated franchises to live action for the first time. She’ll star opposite Ainsworth’s Link under director Wes Ball, whose recent credits include Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
When Does The Legend of Zelda Movie Come Out?
The live-action The Legend of Zelda movie is currently scheduled to arrive in theaters on April 30, 2027. The date was moved forward one week from its previously announced May 7 release.
With filming finished and post-production underway, Nintendo has plenty of time left to keep Hyrule hidden from us.
Bragason apparently feels the same anticipation as everyone else. She may not be allowed to tell us what she saw while wearing Zelda’s ears in New Zealand, but judging by her reaction to the landscapes alone, there should be quite a bit for fans to look forward to seeing on the big screen.
And considering how carefully Nintendo has guarded this project so far, we’ll be watching closely for the moment the gates to Hyrule finally open.
