Nintendo Boss Casts Doubt On 'Legend Of Zelda' TV Series Development

The internet did backflips when word came out weeks ago that Netflix would be developing a TV series based on Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda game series. Nintendo is famously protective of its properties, especially in the wake of the Super Mario Brothers movie. There has been a Zelda animated series, but that was quite a while ago; to date, nothing has been adapted to live-action following Mario. So the Zelda TV show was big news.

But even with that original announcement we cautioned that Nintendo could follow through on that protectiveness and pull the plug on the potential series. Now Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata has thrown some real shade on talk of the Zelda TV show, saying it was all based on wrong info.

Time has quotes from the exec, who says,

As of now, I have nothing new to share with you in regard to the use of our IPs for any TV shows or films, but I can at least confirm that the article in question is not based on correct information.

What does that mean? We're not likely to get much more at this point; perhaps a future games event will offer a chance for another update.

This also doesn't mean that the show isn't happening, but that "not based on correct information" casts a lot of doubt on any idea of a Netflix Zelda series. That line is negative, without question, but it doesn't close the door to a film or TV adaptation. Nintendo certainly isn't going to rush into anything, and the company's working methods are very different from those of Netflix or, for that matter, just about any other big media outfit. So you can continue to hope, but Nintendo may be keeping Zelda and Link at home for now.