Uli Latukefu set as Ganondorf in live-action Zelda movie

Australian actor Uli Latukefu is set to play Ganondorf in the live-action The Legend of Zelda movie, and Deadline says he has “inked a multi-picture deal.” The casting makes Latukefu the latest major piece of a production that is already starting to look less like a one-off adaptation and more like the opening move in a longer franchise strategy.

Nintendo and Sony have not formally confirmed that more than one Zelda movie is in development, but the contract detail changes the way the project reads. A multi-picture deal usually signals that a studio wants to keep the door open for recurring characters, sequels and a broader narrative arc, especially when the villain is a central figure in the source material. In this case, Ganondorf joins a cast that already includes Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, both of whom Nintendo announced on social media.

The film is currently scheduled for theatrical release on May 7, 2027, after the date was moved from March 2027. Deadline previously said the movie was shifting into summer 2027, underscoring that Nintendo, Sony and director Wes Ball are still shaping the project’s release path around a long production cycle rather than a fast, stand-alone rollout.

Ball, who is directing the film, has said Zelda is “dying for a cinematic treatment.” That line fits the way the project is being assembled: the key heroic roles are in place, the main villain has now been cast, and the timeline has already been adjusted once. For studios, that combination matters because franchise value depends on whether audiences buy into the first film strongly enough to support the cost of extending the world across multiple releases.

The comparison to Nintendo’s post-Mario film approach is hard to miss. A live-action Zelda picture with an actor tied to more than one installment suggests a business model built around durability, not a single opening weekend. The creative benchmark will be whether the film can turn Zelda’s mythology into a repeatable screen property; the financial benchmark will be whether Sony and Nintendo see enough demand to justify carrying Ganondorf, Zelda and Link forward into additional films without waiting to see the first one’s final box office before planning what comes next.