The rumour mill is spinning at breakneck pace yet again, this time churning out speculation around Tom Holland’s potential role in a live-action The Legend of Zelda film. While the fan-cast theory has been around for some time, the fanfare around Holland’s tentative role has only heightened following confirmation that a Zelda film is, in fact, in the works.
Fresh off the success of their previous video game film in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo announced in November 2023 that a live-action film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda has been greenlit. While we do know that the film will be helmed by Maze Runner director Wes Ball and co-financed by Sony, further details around Zelda’s cast have yet to be announced.
Naturally, that hasn’t stopped fans (who are particularly vocal in the gaming community) from suggesting their own actors for the Zelda cast. So, is Tom Holland playing Link in The Legend of Zelda movie?
Is Tom Holland playing Link in ‘The Legend of Zelda’ movie?
Rumours of Holland’s involvement in a live-action Zelda film have been around since October of 2022. At that time, a series of AI-generated posters depicting Holland as the Zelda protagonist, Link, went viral on social media, courtesy of AI artist Dan Leveille. Holland can be seen smouldering while donning the character’s famous elf ears and green hat.
While Leveille — who also created Zelda posters of Emma Watson as the titular princess and Idris Elba as villain Ganon — clearly outlined that the posters were not the real deal, the image of Holland as Link remained strong enough to fuel rumours of his casting.
In October of 2023, an AI-generated trailer for Zelda featuring Holland as Link did the rounds on YouTube. News of the live-action film’s involvement with Sony, the production company home to Holland’s role in Spider-Man, only heightened fans’ expectations of the actor’s Zelda casting.
In any case, Holland’s role in the Zelda movie is at this point purely speculative. Neither Sony nor Nintendo have announced the film’s official cast, or indeed any details around its release date or plot.
All of this is not to say that Holland will be excluded from the casting pool, either. As we’ve seen in the likes of John Krasinski’s Mr. Fantastic and Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister, particularly noisy fan-casting suggestions can sometimes become a reality.
Funnily enough, Holland’s longtime girlfriend, Zendaya, was the subject of similar virality around a speculated upcoming role. In November, 2023, the actress was rendered as Moana in an AI-generated clip for a live-action adaptation of the titular Disney princess.
In our own dream casting for the Zelda film, we named Holland alongside the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Harris Dickinson as top picks for Link.