The Legend of Zelda Movie Casts Its Ganondorf: Uli Latukefu Lands the Villain in a Multi-Picture Deal

For months, the live-action The Legend of Zelda movie has been the quietest blockbuster in Hollywood. Nintendo announced its leads back in July 2025, then went completely dark while cameras rolled in New Zealand. On Thursday, that information blackout officially ended with a casting reveal that tells us a lot more than who plays the villain: the bad guy has signed on for multiple movies.

Ganondorf Has a Face: Uli Latukefu Joins the Zelda Movie

Deadline reports that Australian actor Uli Latukefu has landed the role of Ganondorf, the series’ legendary King of Evil, in Sony and Nintendo’s live-action take on the beloved video game franchise. The trade also notes that Latukefu inked a multi-picture deal — a small detail with huge implications for where this franchise is heading.

If the name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, his resume should. Latukefu spent three seasons playing a young Dwayne Johnson on the NBC comedy Young Rock, was a breakout in Netflix’s historical epic Marco Polo, and has shown up in franchise tentpoles like Black Adam, Alien: Covenant and MaXXXine. Born in Australia to Tongan parents, he brings a natural physicality and an everyman warmth that could make this Ganondorf feel genuinely lived-in rather than just cosplay-campy.

The Cast So Far: Link, Zelda and Now the King of Evil

The Zelda movie already had two of its three pillars locked in. Back in July 2025, Shigeru Miyamoto himself took to social media to announce that Benjamin Evan Ainsworth would play Link and Bo Bragason would play Princess Zelda — a classic Miyamoto move that turned a simple casting call into a genuine event.

Ganondorf was always the missing piece, and he is arguably the most important one. In the games, he is the franchise’s dark heartbeat: the wielder of the Triforce of Power, the scheming king who has menaced Hyrule across multiple eras, from Ocarina of Time to Tears of the Kingdom. He is the reason Zelda stories have stakes. Casting him right was never going to be a formality.

What makes Latukefu an interesting choice is that he is not the obvious A-list name a studio might chase for a villain this big. That restraint signals confidence — Nintendo and Sony are betting the character sells the movie, not the actor’s name on the poster.

Everything We Know About the Movie So Far

The full picture of the project has been trickling out for over a year. Wes Ball, the filmmaker behind Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and the Maze Runner trilogy, is directing. The screenplay comes from Derek Connolly (Pokémon Detective Pikachu) and T.S. Nowlin (Maze Runner), with Miyamoto and veteran producer Avi Arad overseeing production for Nintendo and Sony.

The movie was shot in New Zealand, the same backyard that gave us the Lord of the Rings trilogy — fitting for a fantasy epic. Ball has described the project as “the next big mo-cap Avatar-like movie,” which suggests we should expect heavy performance-capture technology rather than a straightforward live-action adventure. For a franchise built on sweeping Hyrule vistas, giant bosses and magical spectacle, that could be exactly right.

As for when we actually get to see it: the release date has bounced around, but it currently sits at April 30, 2027 — actually moved up a week from the previous May slot, which is a rare piece of good news for a production that has already weathered multiple delays.

What the Multi-Picture Deal Really Means

Here is where the news stops being a simple casting announcement and becomes a strategy reveal. A multi-picture deal for Ganondorf means Nintendo is not just making one Zelda movie — it is building a franchise, and the villain is being set up as a recurring presence across it.

That tracks with everything Nintendo has been doing on the big screen. The Super Mario Bros. Movie became a billion-dollar phenomenon in 2023, and its sequel The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has already proven the formula wasn’t a one-off. With Pokemon riding high on both TV and film, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 turning in another strong run at the box office, Nintendo clearly sees Hyrule as its next big cinematic asset.

Ganondorf as a multi-movie villain also solves a structural problem. The Zelda timeline is famously a mess — different games feature different Links and Zeldas across eras, but Ganondorf is one of the few constants. Locking an actor in for multiple films gives the franchise a throughline, a recognizable bad guy who can anchor sequel after sequel the way every great cinematic universe needs.

Why This Casting Feels Right

There is something quietly brilliant about the choice. Latukefu is not a huge star, which means audiences will see Ganondorf first and the actor second. He has the physical presence — his work in Marco Polo and Black Adam involved serious action choreography — and the range to sell both the menace and the tragedy of a character who has always been more than a mustache-twirling villain.

And let’s be honest: the internet was going to lose its mind about whoever got this role. By picking a relative newcomer, Nintendo and Sony have guaranteed the conversation stays on the character and the movie, not on a celebrity’s baggage. That is a very Nintendo move — the same instinct that led them to cast two relative unknowns as Link and Zelda in the first place.

The Road to April 2027

There is still a lot we don’t know. No trailer, no official images, no confirmation of which era of Hyrule the story will adapt. That level of secrecy is unusual for a project this size — most studios would be drip-feeding teasers by now. But Nintendo has always operated on its own clock, and the company seems to have learned from the Mario movie’s playbook: let the product speak when it’s ready, and trust the built-in fanbase to carry the hype in the meantime.

What we do know is enough to get excited about. A director fresh off a critical and commercial hit with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. A screenplay from the writer of Pokémon Detective Pikachu, one of the most faithful video game adaptations ever made. A production shot in Middle-earth country with motion-capture ambitions that suggest real scale. And now a villain played by an actor who has been quietly building one of the more interesting action resumes in the industry.

The Bottom Line

The Legend of Zelda movie now has its full central trio, a director with a proven blockbuster record, and a villain locked in for the long haul. The wait until April 2027 suddenly feels a little shorter — and a lot more interesting.

The casting of Ganondorf was never going to be a small deal, but the multi-picture wrinkle makes it a genuine franchise-defining moment. Nintendo is telling us Hyrule is here to stay, and the King of Evil is coming along for the ride. Whether this becomes the next great video game saga or a cautionary tale about overreach, one thing is certain: the Triforce of Power is in very good hands.