Horizon Zero Dawn Movie: Who Should Play Aloy?

Earlier today at CES 2025, Sony Pictures announced that a live-action Horizon Zero Dawn movie is officially in the works. However, no other details have been revealed, which means that it’s probably still in the early stages of development.

That being said, it’s never too early for us to speculate on which actress should be playing Aloy in the Horizon Zero Dawn Movie.

Here are our choices:

Rose Leslie

Rose Leslie is no stranger to roles as badass women who fight since she’s best known for playing Ygritte in HBO’s Game Of Thrones series. She has red hair and freckles, similar to Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn. As Ygritte, she must already be used to using the bow and arrow, so that’s another plus.

Karen Gillan

Karen Gillan is also a redhead with freckles, and she has previously played strong women in the past, including Amy Pond in Doctor Who (Eleven, anyone?), Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Ruby Roundhouse in the new Jumanji films. She’s used to roles with a lot of action, which the part of Aloy will surely require.

Sophia Lillis

While it could be argued that both Rose Leslie and Karen Gillan might be too old for the role of Aloy, someone younger who still fits the mould of being a redhead with freckles is Sophia Lillis. She’s best known for playing Beverly Marsh in the Stephen King It movies and a tiefling druid named Doric in 2023’s Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves.

Sadie Sink

Another younger option with the same physical features (redhead with freckles) is Sadie Sink. Everyone knows her as Max Mayfield in Netflix’s Stranger Things and she also appeared in the Fear Street horror movie trilogy. She’s a rising star with a potentially massive future, so casting her as Aloy would go a long way with the younger demographic.

Anya Taylor-Joy

Anya Taylor-Joy is one of the most popular actresses right now and she has proven before that she could play action-heavy roles (look no further than 2024’s Furiosa A Mad Max Saga). However, she’s not a redhead, though she could always dye her hair.

Thomasin McKenzie

Thomasin McKenzie is an underrated actress who has played great roles in movies like Jojo Rabbit, M. Night Shyamalan’s Old,  Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho, and 2023’s Eileen. While she’s not a natural redhead (again, she could just dye her hair) and she hasn’t proven her action chops, her acting skills are top notch and she’s young enough.

Cailee Spaeny

Cailee Spaeny is another young rising actress who has the acting chops for the role of Aloy. She was badass as Rain Carradine in Alien Romulus, as well as roles as strong women in other movies such as Civil War and Priscilla.

Ashly Burch (Top) / Hannah Hoekstra (Bottom)

This is just a fun entry on this list, but as fans of the game would know, Ashly Burch voices Aloy in the games while Hannah Hoekstra is the actual physical model on whom Aloy is based on. Both of them are actresses so they could technically play Aloy, but Ashly Burch isn’t experienced in action-heavy roles while Hannah Hoekstra has mostly just played Dutch-speaking roles.