There’s a reason why The Legend of Zelda is, to this day, one of the most beloved video game franchises of all time. It’s a rich, evocative synthesis of Eastern video game storytelling sensibilities and the archetypal monomyths of Western fantasy like The Lord of the Rings, and to this day its setting of Hyrule remains one of gaming’s most eternally wondrous landscapes, forever filled with mystery and magic. The eponymous Princess Zelda is the beating heart of the franchise. She transforms from a traditional damsel-in-distress to a complex monarch and a powerful and wise guiding light for Link – she even became the playable character for the first time in a mainline LoZ game with 2024’s Echoes of Wisdom.
Zelda is one of the most beloved characters in video game history, which meant that actress Patricia Summersett had big shoes to fill when she became the first English-language voice actress for Zelda in mainline franchise history – and yet when she auditioned, she literally had no idea what she was walking into. “It was a secret game,” Summerset tells Inverse. “I didn’t know what I was auditioning for when I did the audition and landed the role.”
