Casting Aloy For The Horizon Zero Dawn Movie: 5 Actors Who Would Be Perfect

From Sadie Sink to Amber Midthunder, there are a lot of interesting casting choices for who could play Aloy in the upcoming movie adaptation of Horizon Zero Dawn. After it had been developed as a Netflix series for a couple of years, Sony recently announced that Horizon Zero Dawn will be turned into a theatrical movie instead. While they might struggle to fit the entire story into a two-hour film, the big screen is a much more fitting home for the vibrant sci-fi spectacle of Horizon than the small screen would’ve been.

There are a lot of questions about the Horizon Zero Dawn movie. How much of the story will they cover in the film? Will they adapt the world faithfully or make some tweaks to it? But first and foremost, who will play Aloy? Karen Gillan and Rose Leslie have been common fan-casting choices for Aloy, but they’re a little too old for the character, so someone else will have to play the part. There are a lot of great actors working today who could do this plucky heroine justice in the movie adaptation.

5

Erin Kellyman

Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) in Solo: A Star Wars Story

Erin Kellyman has quietly built an impressive résumé over the past few years. She played a sympathetic villain in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, an unsympathetic villain in Solo: A Star Wars Story, a knight-in-training in Willow, and a virgin martyr in The Green Knight. It might be time for her to finally take center stage as the hero in her own blockbuster vehicle.

Kellyman has racked up plenty of experience working in major franchises, and she’s got the right age and look to play Aloy. With her previous high-profile roles — especially in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — Kellyman brought real depth and dimension to what could’ve been a one-note archetype. Anyone taking over the role of Aloy from her voice actor Ashly Burch in a live-action adaptation will need to do the same.

4

Sophia Lillis

Sophia Lillis Holding a SlingsH๏τ in Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves

Sophia Lillis certainly looks the part for Aloy — all she needs are some hair extensions and she’s practically a ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ringer — but she’s got the acting chops to pull off this character, too. Lillis’ breakout role in the It movies demonstrated that she can play a heroic character who manages to triumph under difficult circumstances. Beverly Marsh is every bit as fierce and tenacious as Aloy, and Lillis knocked that role out of the park.

She proved she can handle the demands of an action-oriented role when she played Doric the druid in the mᴀssively underrated Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. She was front and center in some of the film’s most exciting and elaborate set-pieces. Lillis’ turn as Doric introduced her ability to let a character’s humanity shine through amidst the spectacle of fantasy worldbuilding, which is what the role of Aloy requires above all.

3

Amber Midthunder

Amber Midthunder as Naru with an arrow nocked in her bow in Prey

Amber Midthunder has already played one young action hero hunting monsters with a bow and arrow in a jungle environment — she could easily do it again. Midthunder burst onto the scene with her badᴀss performance as Naru in Prey, which was compared to Sigourney Weaver’s turn as Ellen Ripley in Alien. If she can take down a Predator, she can take down a Stormbird. Like Aloy, Naru has to dig deep to find the courage to become a hero, and Midthunder nailed that arc.

Midthunder might not look exactly like Aloy does in the video games, but the actor’s appearance is secondary to their ability to capture the essence of a character. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey don’t look much like their video game counterparts in HBO’s The Last of Us, but they’re undeniably Joel and Ellie. Midthunder would make a perfect Aloy.

2

Sadie Sink

Sadie Sink as Max in the Upside Down in Stranger Things season 4

Sadie Sink is not only an appropriate age to play Aloy; she looks an awful lot like her. Sink gave a spectacular performance opposite an Oscar-winning Brendan Fraser in The Whale, but she’s best known for her portrayal of Max Mayfield in Stranger Things. She joined the Stranger Things cast late, but quickly became just as beloved as any of the season 1 mainstays.

Sink’s turn as Max proves she’d make a great Aloy. Aloy’s defining characteristic is her resilience. She keeps her head held high and continues fighting in the face of insurmountable adversity. Sink portrayed resilience incarnate when Max fled from Vecna to the sounds of Kate Bush in Stranger Things.

1

Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova in Black Widow aiming a gun

To really do the role of Aloy justice, it’ll require a lot of acting range. She needs a daring action hero, but she also needs sharp comedic timing as she delivers one-liners and a soul-searching dramatic performance as she investigates the mysteries of her past. Florence Pugh would need to dye her hair red or wear a wig, but she’s proven that she could pull off all these facets of Aloy.

Pugh was an awesome action hero in Black Widow, but she also delivered a devastating portrait of grief and trauma in Midsommar. She was hilarious in the sports biopic Fighting with My Family and the animated sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, but she gave captivating dramatic turns in Lady Macbeth and Little Women — and she tugged on the heartstrings in We Live in Time. Whatever the Horizon Zero Dawn movie requires of Aloy, Pugh could pull it off.