Overview

Hunter Schafer Cast In Zelda Movie Discourse refers to online discourse surrounding rumors that actress Hunter Schafer (a trans woman) is being eyed to play the character Princess Zelda in the upcoming live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. Discussions began as early as late 2023 before the viral rumor surfaced and became increasingly prevalent in late May 2025 after it was reported that Schafer was supposedly being considered to play Zelda. The rumor then inspired widespread debates and controversy on the topic, with some arguing that Zelda should be played by a cisgender woman and others defending the potential casting of Schafer, with many claiming that Schafer resembles certain versions of Zelda in the video games.

Background

In late 2023, initial discussions and fan-casting posts about actress Hunter Schafer potentially portraying the character Zelda in a live-action Zelda movie began spreading online, with various media outlets reporting on the discourse.^[12] Following this, Schafer herself commented on the idea in November 2023 during various interviews, saying it would be "cool."^[13]

On March 30th, 2025, X^[1] user @SlLENTPRINCESS posted in response to a post asking who should play Zelda in a live-action Legend of Zelda movie, stating, "Hunter Schafer as Princess Zelda is THE vision," garnering over 9,000 likes in two months. This is the earliest known post about Schafer playing Zelda to garner significant attention.

Online Reactions

The discourse became increasingly prominent online in late May 2025 as various users and media outlets began covering the rumored casting.

For instance, on May 29th, 2025, X^[2] user @screentime posted a tweet claiming that Hunter Schafer was being eyed to play Zelda, based on an unverified rumor. The post gained over 230,000 likes in a day.

Later that day, X^[3] user @BlazerenSR quoted the post, writing, "As someone who has never seen Hunter Schafer’s filmography, I don’t know how well she could play as Zelda. That being said, this casting would piss off the worst people on the Internet, so I’d be down for it lol," garnering over 2,700 likes in four days.

Shortly after, X^[4] user @leilaxo_ posted a version of the The World If meme, writing, "society if hunter schafer gets cast as Princess Zelda," garnering over 41,000 likes in four days.

Also on May 29th, X^[5] user @ZeldaZealot made a transphobic post sharing an image of the character Tingle from The Legend of Zelda, writing, "I have the perfect role for Mr. Hunter Schafer," garnering over 5,900 likes in four days.

On May 30th, 2025, X^[6] user @realalexlains posted a video criticizing the idea of Schafer being cast as Zelda, claiming it is an example of trans women, who she refers to as mentally ill, stealing roles from biological women. She admits that Schafer looks like Zelda, but continues to insist that women are being erased, garnering over 700 likes in three days.

On May 31st, X^[7] user @mashingvaquita posted artwork of what Hunter Schafer might look like as Princess Zelda, garnering over 12,000 likes in two days. That same day, a version of the They're the Same Picture meme was posted to the /r/dankmemes^[8] subreddit, garnering over 3,500 upvotes in two days.

On June 1st, 2025, TikToker^[9] @khan_skywalker posted a response to @realalexlains' video criticizing the idea of Schafer as Zelda, in which he defends Schafer, garnering over 1.9 million views in two days. The TikToker mentions how conservatives online frequently complain when actors are cast as characters they do not resemble, but still complain when the actress (Schafer) looks like the character they're playing (Zelda).

Various YouTubers also discussed the rumored casting in late May and early June 2025, including YouTuber Ryan Kinel^[10] and streamer Vaush, ^[11] the former of which received over 29,000 views in three days and the latter of which received over 36,000 views in one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References