Following the success of the Mario Galaxy Movie that’s currently in theatres, Nintendo is preparing themselves for the 2027 launch of a first-of-its-kind live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. With oversight from Shigeru Miyamoto and production from Columbia Pictures, Zelda fans are braced for whatever the big screen debut of Link and Zelda will bring. For one Nintendo veteran employee though, they’re particularly apprehensive about one massive change the movie might make.
Speaking on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, Takaya Imamura has expressed severe concern that, if Link speaks in the film, the magic of the franchise will vanish. He said via machine translation “the moment that Link speaks, I can’t help but worry a little that the “Zelda magic” everyone has been nurturing in their hearts might just vanish into thin air.”
Whilst there’s no official footage from the movie, only still promotional images, Link speaking does seem incredibly likely. It’s a summer blockbuster movie, so the protagonist having dialogue is being universally assumed albeit not confirmed.
Imamura’s fear may just hold weight with Zelda franchise fans, as he’s been involved in development of some of the franchise’s biggest and most beloved games. On A Link to the Past, Imamura was an object designer, whilst his work on Majora’s Mask extended to art director. He’s even the creator of the character Tingle!
Beyond Zelda, the now-retired Imamura was a designer on F-Zero, Star Fox and Donkey Kong, with his last roles at Nintendo seeing him direct both Steel Diver and Tank Troopers on the 3DS. Despite his retirement from Nintendo, he’s still incredibly active with work in education, manga creation and even design work on other video games. If you’re into game design and enjoy the art of Zelda, then don’t miss the newly revealed Tears of the Kingdom artbook we recently covered either.
Time will tell whether Imamura’s fears about Link speaking in the upcoming The Legend of Zelda movie adaptation become true, if he even speaks at all. The movie is currently wrapping filming in the New Zealand town of Glenorchy, known for its appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It seems that production has Zelda‘s fantasy aesthetics spot on, but how they adapt the characters and narrative we’ll find out together next summer!
