The ‘Jurassic Park’ legend left fans one last surprise in Hyrule, with his mystery part in Zelda set to become one of his final screen appearances.
ByBernadette Giacomazzo
August 7, 2026
Key Takeaways
- Before his death in July at 78, Sam Neill secretly filmed an unrevealed role in Nintendo and Sony’s live-action The Legend of Zelda, making it one of his final screen appearances alongside upcoming projects The Last Resortand Godzilla x Kong: Supernova.
- The film’s cast now includes Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, Dichen Lachman as Impa, Yvonne Strahovski as an unnamed queen, and Uli Latukefu as Ganondorf, with first-look images already showing Zelda and Link in full Hylian gear.
- Directed by Wes Ball and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad, the tightly guarded adaptation—drawing from nearly four decades of Zelda mythology boosted by Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom—is set to hit theaters on May 7, 2027.
Sam Neill still has at least one trip to the big screen ahead of him.
According to Deadline, the late Jurassic Park star filmed a role in Nintendo and Sony Pictures’ live-action The Legend of Zelda before his death last month. The closely guarded production wrapped filming in April, meaning Neill had completed his work on the movie months before he died on July 13 at age 78. His character has not been revealed.
That makes The Legend of Zelda one of Neill’s final screen appearances, and possibly his last. He also completed roles in the upcoming romantic comedy The Last Resort and Godzilla x Kong: Supernova before his death.
News of Neill’s involvement comes as Nintendo’s Hyrule is suddenly getting a lot more crowded. Deadline also reports that Severance star Dichen Lachman will play Impa, the longtime Zelda character who serves as an advisor and protector to the princess.
The Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski has joined the cast as an unidentified queen, while Uli Latukefu has reportedly landed the role of Ganondorf.
The new names join the two actors Nintendo previously put at the center of the adaptation: Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link.
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto announced the young leads last year, saying, “I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen.”
Fans have since gotten their first look at Bragason and Ainsworth in character. Images released through the Nintendo Today app showed Zelda carrying her signature bow and arrow alongside a green-clad Link in the middle of a sprawling field, with both sporting the pointed Hylian ears associated with the franchise.
The movie is being directed by Wes Ball, whose credits include The Maze Runner trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Miyamoto and Avi Arad are producing, while T.S. Nowlin wrote the latest version of the screenplay. Sony is distributing and co-financing the project with Nintendo.
Plot details remain under wraps, leaving it unclear which parts of the sprawling The Legend of Zelda mythology the movie will pull from—or where Neill’s mystery character fits into Hyrule.
There’s plenty of mythology to choose from. The franchise has been around since 1986, but its modern popularity exploded with 2017’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The open-world reinvention became the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/the-best-smart-glasses-for-2026/” title=”The Best Smart Glasses for 2026″>bestselling entry in the series and was followed by 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom. Breath of the Wild was also upgraded for Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025.
Hollywood, meanwhile, has been circling a live-action Zelda for much longer. IGN famously released an elaborate fake movie trailer as an April Fool’s prank in 2008, more than a decade before Nintendo finally announced the real thing.
The Legend of Zelda hits theaters on May 7, 2027.
