The last time we had a live action Avatar: The Last Airbender movie, it was an absolute fiasco. It wasn’t supposed to be. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and released in 2010, there was a lot of buzz that quickly fizzled out. From allegations of whitewashing of the cast to the 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s better we forget it altogether. The actors in the show recently appeared at a fan convention and talked about what people can expect. There’s no way it can be as bad as the 2010 one, right?
In case you’re not familiar, Avatar: The Last Airbender was an animated show on Nickelodeon that aired from 2005 to 2008. It’s practically universally beloved and widely considered one of the best animated shows of all time.
Avatar takes place in a world where civilizations live in tribes based on their ability to harness the power of four elements: water, earth, fire or air. Ang, the “Avatar,” is the only one with the ability to bend all four elements and bring peace to the land.
Within that premise is a whole bunch of lovable main characters going through trails and tribulations as they try to help Ang realize his full potential. There’s waterbender Katara; her brother Sokka; earthbender Toph; firebender and heir to the Fire Nation throne Lord Zuko; his uncle Iroh; his sister Azula, and many others.
Remember, this came out in 2005, and it’s still just as popular today. Which brings us to the new adaptation, which up until now was merely just really exciting news (it’s been in development since 2020).
The stars of the show, Gordon Cormier (Ang); Kiawentiio Tarbell (Katara); Ian Ousley (Sokka) and Dalla Liu (Prince Zuko), all recently appeared at Tudum: A Global Fan Event in Brazil and talked about the new show.
Cormier told the crowd they were going to get to see everything they loved about the original again.
“Avatar: The Last Airbender live actionI feel like is going to bring everything you know and love about the original series back to life. And hopefully [it will] just bring a bunch of new fans who have never heard [of] the show before into this universe, and to me that’s pretty exciting. I’m a fan of the show personally, and I’m just excited for this as you guys are.”
Kiawentiio said she got to see some of the special effects and that she was really excited about what the show’s going to eventually look like.
“I’ve only [gotten] to see one finished scene with the effects, but it was so cool and I can’t wait to see the whole series done. I know everybody is working really hard to make it the best that it can be.”
Other actors on the show include Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) as Lord Ozai, Danny Pudi (Community) as the Mechanist, Arden Cho as June and Amber Midthunder (Prey) as Princess Yue.
One of the more notable castings is Uncle Iroh. He’ll be played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, who’s appeared in The Mandalorian and a legendary Canadian show called Kim’s Convenience.
Liu, who plays his nephew Zuko, said he’s “the perfect Uncle Iroh.”
“There isn’t anyone that could’ve done a better job than him. But I received advice probably on the daily about anything that you can think of, from what it means to be leader or how to present yourself as a professional on set. He’s a real-life Uncle Iroh to me now.”
Another character related to Zuko is his father Fire Lord Ozai, played by Dae Kim. Liu said “The day he walked on set, he was so intimidating. I knew he was the Fire Lord, and I think everyone can agree on that. But what I received from him was validation. He made me feel I belonged to be working alongside these amazing people.”
There’s also a rerecording of the show’s theme by the Synchron Stage Orchestra and Choir. You can listen to that below.
The show doesn’t have a firm release date just yet, but we do know that it’s coming some time next year. We’re almost there everybody. Let’s just hope it lives up to the hype and makes us forget the last one entirely.