Before Becoming Zelda, Bo Bragason Wanted to Play a "Bit of a Mess" British Girl First

The first time Bo Bragason visited New York, she thought Times Square was smaller than she'd imagined. It sounds like idle chatter, but it says a lot about the year she's had: she just wrapped filming in New Zealand, wearing pointed ears as Zelda in the live-action Legend of Zelda movie, and before that, she was in Canada shooting Sterling Point, Megan Park's new series that dropped on Prime Video last week. Sitting on the floor of her New York hotel room for the interview, she says, "That was the best summer of my life."

Sterling Point follows Annie (Ella Rubin), a New York teenager who unexpectedly inherits her late grandfather's island in Ontario's Muskoka lake region. She heads there with her twin brother (Keen Ruffalo) and gets pulled into new friendships and family secrets. Bragason plays Oona, the British girl who's blunt, flirty, and practically embeds herself in Annie's world the moment she shows up.

From Auditioning for Annie, to Ramona, and Finally Landing on Oona

Landing this role wasn't a one-shot deal. Bragason recalls: "I originally auditioned for Annie, then Oona, then I read for Ramona, the more reclusive girl who lives on the island, and then went back to Oona again. Basically I tried out for every female role before it finally settled." She got the audition notice while in Thailand and dropped what she was doing to film a self-tape on the spot; later she flew to Toronto for a chemistry read, then spent another anxious month refreshing her phone before landing Oona. She says she's grateful it worked out this way: "If Oona were a real person, I'd want to be friends with her — she's confident, she's cool, and she's got that kind of messiness everyone has when they're young."

Park's previous work includes The Fallout, which followed Jenna Ortega processing the aftermath of a school shooting, and My Old Ass, where a teenage girl has a mushroom trip and converses with her adult self, played by Aubrey Plaza. Park has a habit of picking young actors willing to put a piece of themselves into their characters, which is exactly why Bragason went after this opportunity herself: "I'd watched My Old Ass and The Fallout so many times — just getting noticed by Megan already felt like a huge deal."

She describes the set as feeling like summer camp: none of the main cast were locals to Toronto, so on weekends they'd all go play pickleball together in the park. "Lakes, trees, jet skis, boats, chipmunks — they weren't as fluffy as I imagined — and just a really lovely group of people. You could feel that everyone genuinely wanted this show to turn out great."

From Three Girls to Zelda in 2027

Bragason spent her childhood bouncing between the UK, Luxembourg, and France because of her parents' jobs, before eventually settling in England, where she started auditioning at 11. She appeared in the BAFTA-winning BBC series Three Girls, then took a break from acting to focus on finishing school, before working her way up through short films and small roles in indie movies, eventually landing the 2024 Disney+ series Renegade Nell, then the miniseries The Jetty, the action series King & Conqueror, and now Sterling Point — bringing her credit count to 12 so far.

In April 2027, she'll hit the big screen as the live-action Zelda, starring alongside Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, in a project that's so far only released a single still image. She jokes that she's practicing new ways to "dodge questions." Recalling the New Zealand set, she remembers looking up at the mountains during lunch breaks and having to remind herself "this is real," because the view looked exactly like a MacBook wallpaper.

After wrapping all this, she plans to head back to Brighton to spend time with family, finish reading Stephen King's Pet Sematary, soak up some sun, and take care of her two new cats, Buzz and Blue. As for turning 22, her take is simple: "That number's got a bit of swag to it."