This story is six years in the making, and it involves Zelda, Star Fox, Another Fox, College Humor, Netflix, Nintendo and Adam Conover. Let’s discuss it:
In February 2015, the Wall Street Journal reports Nintendo is compiling a live adaptation of the Legend of Zelda series for Netflix, described as’Game of Thrones for a family audience. The information comes from an anonymous source close to the project. Other stores also covered the report – but a Zelda Netflix show never took place.
Over the years, fans of video games have found it to be a rift in the rumor mill and move on.
On February 1, 2021, the YouTube channel The Serf Times publishes an interview with Adam Conover of Adam destroys everything, in which Conover drops gossip from his time to College Humor in the 2010s. Twitter user @supererogatory first exclaim the juicy pieces:
Apparently, College Humor was planning a combination of clay pottery Star Fox and Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto even came to the office to talk through the details. According to Conover, the project was canceled about a month later and he asked his boss what had happened.
Conover remembers the boss saying, ‘Oh, someone at Netflix leaked the Legend of Zelda thing. They were not supposed to talk about it. Nintendo scares out … and they pull everything to the plug. They pulled the whole program by the plug to customize these things. ”
So the live-action Zelda Netflix series was real.
I can not believe I somehow came across something that looks like some kind of create-or-kind while watching a YouTube video, but based on a Twitter search, I did apparently done.
– ⬜️◽️▫️ (@supererogatory) 2 February 2021
Nintendo is notoriously protective of its IP, and it does not easily lend its franchises to third parties. This is one of the reasons why the rumors of Zelda Netflix were such a big deal. According to Conover, the Netflix leak pushed the company further into its shell.
There’s a hungry audience for content related to video games on Netflix, as shown by the Castlevania, Resident Evil and Sonic animated programs, and The Witcher live-action and anime series. With the Zelda franchise reaching its 35th anniversary this year, it’s time for Nintendo to give Netflix – or any other streaming service – another chance. However, we will believe it when we see it.