What you need to know
- Nintendo had plans set in motion to produce a live-action Netflix series based on The Legend of Zelda.
- Due to leaks from within Netflix, Nintendo decided to cancel the project.
- Nintendo has not reported any plans to incorparate their IPs into any television media since then.
A Twitter user seems to have stumbled across an update to a long-forgotten rumour that had gaming media outlets in a frenzy a few years ago. While watching a video from The Serf Times, they saw TV personality Adam Conover reveal that Nintendo was indeed planning to collaborate with Netflix in 2015 to create a live-action series based on The Legend of Zelda (via supererogatory on Twitter).
Adam Conover, the host of a YouTube series called Adam Ruins Everything, had ties to a different Nintendo project at the time he was at CollegeHumor, which was a claymation project based on the Star Fox franchise. However, the Star Fox project ended up getting cancelled, as well as the Netflix Zelda project. Upon inquiring with his higher-ups, Adam discovered that an employee from Netflix itself leaked the project, which media outlets ended up getting wind of. Nintendo is well-known for being extremely cautious with its intellectual property and, like any company, dislikes the notion of secret projects being exposed to the public before it deems them ready.
The release of a Zelda series on Netflix would have been the first time that Nintendo produced any sort of television media based on their game franchises since 2006. Their last film release in Japan was a Dōbutsu no Mori in 2006, based on the Animal Crossing franchise. Nintendo's latest television series was Kirby: Right Back at Ya! which ran until 2006 in North America. Given that The Legend of Zelda has become more popular after the successful release of Breath of the Wild, one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch, a live-action series would have been in high demand by fans.
Embark on an epic adventure
Breath of the Wild is Nintendo's first "open-air" game, where players must help Link save Hyrule after it fell to Calamity Ganon 100 years ago. Do you have what it takes to conquer the Divine Beasts and avenge your friends?
