“I Love How It Has Evolved:” Patricia Summersett Reflects On Finding Princess Zelda’s Voice Amid 10 Years With The Nintendo Franchise

The Legend of Zelda turns 40 this year, with a legacy that remains attuned to the past while always eager to chart a path forward. That’s definitely the key ethos in the modern entries to the series, with the ten years of Breath of the Wild’s version of Hyrule setting the stage for sequels, spin-offs, and a clear influence on the upcoming live-action cinematic adaptation. Fittingly, one of the key figures in this era of the series has been Princess Zelda herself.

Largely silent along with most of the game’s characters over the years, the modern Zelda actually has a speaking voice thanks to voice actor Patricia Summersett, who has been playing the character since 2016’s Breath of the Wild. To celebrate her time in the series, Patricia Summersett sat down for a conversation with ComicBook to talk about the casting process that led her to Legend of Zelda, which other variants of the princess she would have enjoyed playing, and what it means to be a part of the legendary franchise.

Finding Zelda’s Voice

Looking back at how she joined The Legend of Zelda as the titular princess, Patricia Summersett was always upfront about how unlikely the entire experience feels. “It’s been such a fascinating multi-part process,” Summersett explained, recalling how she initially had no idea what role she was auditioning for. “It was a bleached script, so they didn’t give any information about what the game was going to be. I went in with some preconceived ideas about the archetype that I wanted to go for. Going off the spec script, they had things like ‘the weight of the world on her shoulders,’ that she was older than her years.” This knowledge that she was playing a princess impacted her approach in some key ways, though, keeping her audition higher in tenor to reflect a younger character befitting that royal title.

While trying to figure out the character, she ended up looking at herself and her own journey. “I would consider myself at who I was around 19. So I made her maybe a bit more fragile, more regal, and a little more repressed. From that, I got a call back. They directed me for a few different things, and I got the part… I signed an NDA and found out I was playing Zelda. I asked if there was anything special I could do to make this voice even more fantastical or impactful. They said, ‘No, the voice you had is the voice we have chosen.’ You have to trust that you gave them the essence of what they were looking for, and try to breathe life into it and take direction. I’ve loved how it’s evolved over the last 10 years.”

It was important for Summersett to have a backing for the lore, however, especially given the importance of the character in the overall mythology. After diving into the Hyrule Historia, she looked back through previous iterations of the character to find inspiration. One of the big ones came in the form of Zelda from The Twilight Princess. “All the iterations are so different, and they would be so different if they were voiced in any substantial way. They would turn into completely different characters. I would say I do have a soft spot for the Twilight Princess Zelda, partly because the Hylian I chose to learn was in Twilight Princess. She’s got a maturity to her. Not all the Zeldas are poised in the way that she is. She’s painted, essentially, and there’s a naturally dark moodiness to the game that I quite enjoy.”

Still, it isn’t lost on Summersett how fortunate she is to not only have earned the role in the first place but to keep getting chances to bring her back for subsequent titles thanks to Tears of the Kingdom and Hyrule Warriors. “What it comes down to is I got so lucky. It was written when it was, and it lined up for me to audition for it. It’s hard to go back and try to paint it any other way. Had it happened months earlier or later, if different things happened in the audition process, the timing just lined up for me to be the Breath of the Wild version of Zelda. It’s hard to do anything other than thank my lucky stars.“

A Decade Of Growth Amid A Timeless Legacy

As one of the bedrocks of the Legend of Zelda franchise, it was always going to be a big deal to see the character take a more prominent role. While Zelda was always important, she was often used narratively as someone Link was questing to save, rather than as a clear character in her own right. Some games subverted this, like the defiant rebellion of the Ocarina of Time Zelda, the cocky snark of Tetra from Wind Waker, or the refined but tragic Zelda of Twilight Princess.

However, Breath of the Wild fully reimagined the character in terms of raw plot importance and dynamic personality. Zelda’s strengths and flaws were part of the worldbuilding in Breath of the Wild and crucial for the game’s depiction of the character. Her arc has seen her fight for a doomed world in Breath of the Wild, take on an epic destiny in Tears of the Kingdom, and even rush into the battlefield herself in Hyrule Wars: Age of Imprisonment.

“It’s fun to see her take on fighting roles,” Summersett exclaimed. “It’s fun to see her with complexities and nuances, with both the light and the dark that she speaks about in previous iterations. It’s such a joy. It’s probably the kind of role I pursue the most, because she’s a complex female character that is strong but not one-dimensional. She has a lot going on. She’s a real person, and that hasn’t been the case all the time in the past. Lots has been done in the industry to improve that, but it’s important to always be looking for ways that we can continue to do better and to be more effective at storytelling.“

It isn’t lost on Summersett what it means to have voiced Zelda in such a mainstream release. Zelda is a beloved property, with a cycle of enduring characters that have come to mean a great deal to countless people. It makes her a part of a genuine legacy in the world of gaming. “I know that I’ll always be a part of this story,” Summersett explained.” “I’ve grown in this experience. Doing this for ten years… the franchise is shared with so many people. You can’t have this franchise without the players, without the developers, the artists, the visionaries, and all the thousands of people who followed it. I’m just a tiny little piece of that. It’s wild how magnified it can be as an experience when I meet fans. It’s been ten years! I’ve met people whom I held as infants. Then I’ll go back to a different Comic-Con, and they’re hugging me as an 8-year old. Their parents will tell me how much it means to them. It’s been wild to watch people grow up through [this franchise]. It’s one big, global community that all loves this storytelling. It’s forever going to be one of the biggest gifts of my career and my life to be a part of it.“

Looking back over the last decade, Summersett had to admit that she’s been surprised by “the longevity of my participation.” This specific incarnation of Zelda has been a focal point in multiple games, with her full arc from self-doubting leader to hero in her own right, gifting the voice actor with a rare opportunity to really take a character in unexpected directions. “Her sense of humor and where it lives within me is still surprising. It can be so understated, but it’s always there. I think of it like little bubbles of joy. She doesn’t seem to have a lot of time to express herself, because people keep throwing things at her. It can be a burden. But she’s kind of quirky in the most delicious way; she has a sense of humor and a feeling of glee with nature. I think that’s been one of those little, delightful, serendipitous parts of voicing her… It’s going to go on forever, and it has made such an impact on my personal journey.”