For years now, Samara Weaving has been in my Mount Rushmore of modern-age scream queens, having steadily crushed roles in high-quality variety of horror movies. So every time she joins a new one like the excellent Ready or Not 2, I’m readily standing at attention like a bloodthirsty pup. That hasn’t been the case as much recently, however, as she’s too busy joining other projects about things I love dearly. First, she was recently confirmed to have joined the MCU’s X-Men cast. And now it’s been reported that she’s in Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda movie.
It’s like she (or her agent) has a direct line into my pop culture-sopped brain that lines her up with whatever 2026 movie or 2027 release can makes the most synapses happen. (Not that I’m actually so self-centered that I’d think anyone’s management team has or wants access to my brain.) I’ve been looking forward to a Legend of Zelda movie at least since 1993’s Super Mario Bros. first warded Nintendo away from movie adaptations for decades, and wasn’t entirely sure how many of the upcoming video game adaptation’s cast members would be revealed before the first trailer drops.
Who Is Samara Weaving Reportedly Playing In The Legend Of Zelda?
News of Weaving’s casting was first shared on X by self-described “messenger” Beyond Reporter, who has been on the money enough times to make posts like this worthy of attention. Had this been the lone mention about the casting, I might not have been swayed to give it further thought, but then the same source later posted that Weaving would be playing a fairy character, but then later doubled-back with a supposed correction for who the actress is actually playing, which states:
Apparently, Samara Weaving plays a character called The Goddess Hylia in The Legend of Zelda. I'm not familiar with the lore, so I apologize.
I honestly wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Weaving would be playing an aged-up version of Zelda, since she looks like she'd be right at home with this universe's characters. But I'm very intrigued by the rumor that she'll instead be portraying the goddess Hylia, especially since there's no indication of what that portrayal would even consist of.
More often than not, Hylia is depicted in Nintendo's various Link-led games through statues and other forms of iconography, as opposed to the goddess herself being a townsperson wth conversations to engage in and quests to assign. Which speaks to the idea that Weaving may have one or two marquee scenes near the beginning and end of the movie, without a whole lot of screentime as a speaking and breathing character, though she still might actually be seen all throughout the movie in statue form.
However it goes, this marks the latest project Weaving has joined that I couldn't be more excited about. And I would be remiss if I didn't also note that the Bill and Ted movies are among my most cherished, so the fact that she got to carry on the legacy in Face the Music makes her even cooler in my eyes. And I can only imagine that she'll kick some ice-covered nards as Emma Frost for Jake Schreier's new take on the X-Men franchise.
Considering she keeps doing things I love, which includes being in a Jorme Tacoma-directed movie (for the well-received Over My Dead Body opposite Jason Segel), here's a list of other things I love, and projects I've love to see, that she could theoretically join.
- Any of Mike Flanagan's upcoming Stephen King adaptations
- Any of Mike Flanagan's projects that aren't Stephen King adaptations
- The alleged Nightmare on Elm Street reboot
- Gravity Falls Season 4
- Another Bill & Ted sequel
- Hannibal Season 4
- DCU horror movies after Clayface
- The new Inbetweeners movie (why not?)
Now I just have to sit back and mentally manifest every one of those projects into existence, so you may not hear from me for a while. Until then, just follow the sound of the air guitar in the wind. Or wait, is that an ocarina?
