The Legend of Zelda's Next Game Leaks With 2027 Launch Window Attached

The next game in The Legend of Zelda series may have just leaked, with a launch window attaching it to the same period as when the live-action movie is supposed to release.

2026 marks an important milestone for The Legend of Zelda, with it now being 40 years since the first game was released in 1986.

However, its first release in the West didn’t happen until summer 1987, which might mean Nintendo has big plans for the franchise going into next year.

We know of the upcoming live-action film, starring Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, and it seems a new leak has suggested a brand new game will be released alongside it.

The report comes via Nash Weedle, an insider that has been correct on many occasions (and also slightly off in others), who hints that a new 2D Zelda may be in the works for next year.

“Heroes awaken, for drums resound for 2027,” Nash Weedle writes on X (formerly Twitter), quoting an earlier post which states “Richard > Edward > Bernard”.

The Legend Of Zelda Series Uses Cryptic Codenames To Describe Its Games

This may all seem pretty cryptic on the surface, but let’s analyse this. For starters, the three names (Richard, Edward, and Bernard) all refer to codenames that Nintendo uses for its games.

Richard was the codename for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Edward was the codename for Echoes of Wisdom. These were the latest 2D Zelda games released on Nintendo Switch, with the Link’s Awakening remake coming out in 2019, and Echoes of Wisdom in 2024.

Bernard is presumably the codename given to the third 2D Zelda game that Nintendo will release along this pipeline.

Given the five-year gap between the first two, it’s easy to assume that the third one will be released around 2029, but Nash Weedle seems to imply that it could come a bit sooner.

With Nintendo wanting to hype up its live-action adaptation The Legend of Zelda movie, which is due to hit cinemas on 7 May, 2027, a game release around the same time seems likely.

This is the same strategy the Big N did for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, after all, by re-releasing both Super Mario Galaxy titles for Nintendo Switch last October.

If the same pattern holds, the next Zelda game will likely have some relevance to the plot of the movie. From what we’ve seen so far, it seems like the film isn’t necessarily adapting a specific Zelda game, but will be taking inspiration from across all eras of the franchise.

The film was originally announced in 2023, as part of a collaboration between series creator Shigeru Miyamoto and movie producer Avi Arad.

Bragason and Ainsworth’s casting was announced in July 2025, and filming commenced in November that year. Filming wrapped earlier this month, with the movie now expected to shift into the post-production phase.

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