Legend of Zelda adaptation will be Sam Neill’s final film, now confirmed

Everyone thought we knew what was next on Sam Neill's slate, but it turns out he had one final act up his sleeve — and honestly, it is a bit of a curveball. Since his death back in July at 78, Neill's had a steady trickle of tributes, and you could almost forget just how much he was doing in those last months. You wouldn't have known the man was ill, let alone about to bow out; he was filming, running his winery, and generally making the rest of us look lazy by comparison.

Neill's work rate last year was absurd: four projects shot back-to-back, all scheduled to arrive within a single month after his death.

The Zelda surprise

Most people were braced for his upcoming turns in The Last Resort — that's the romantic comedy with Daisy Ridley and Alden Ehrenreich — and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. But there was always mention of a mysterious fourth project, tucked away behind industry secrecy. Now that title's out: it turns out Neill's final film appearance will be in Sony and Nintendo's live-action The Legend of Zelda adaptation. If that's not a proper left-field twist for the finish line, I don't know what is.

Deadline confirmed that the Wes Ball film quietly wrapped filming in April this year, safely ahead of Neill's passing. In terms of casting, the only major details we'd had before were from last July, when Nintendo confirmed Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (as Link) and Bo Bragason (as Zelda).

Cast, characters, and a big question

• Uli Latukefu — set as Ganondorf, the main villain
• Dichen Lachman — playing Impa, Princess Zelda's right-hand and protector
• Yvonne Strahovski — signed on for a 'queenly' role, specifics still under wraps
• Sam Neill — character not officially confirmed, but best bet is the King of Hyrule (with Strahovski as his queen, presumably). No one from the production is saying outright, but it's the obvious solution given the other pieces.

Apart from those, the rest is still locked away in the Nintendo vault — they've kept things tighter than usual for a property of this scale.

Nintendo finally goes live-action

It's taken 40 years for Zelda to get a proper film, which — considering it's sold north of 150 million games — is nearly unthinkable. Nintendo's faith in their film strategy is sky-high after the animated Super Mario movies (the latest one, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, broke the billion-dollar barrier this past April). This one's a joint effort with Sony handling distribution, announced autumn 2023, and it's a more earnest, oddball world than the Mushroom Kingdom — but even on its worst day, you sense the numbers are going to be massive. Neill's casting as the elder statesman to a bunch of younger leads gives the film exactly the anchor it needs, in that way he always did so well.