Dante Basco (Prince Zuko) talks Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender remake

The cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender is reuniting to talk about why the show resonates all these years later, and maybe discuss Netflix’s remake.

In 2020, people spent a lot of time indoors watching movies and TV, since going elsewhere was tricky for obvious reasons. One show that resurged hugely in popularity was the animated epic Avatar: The Last Airbender (and its successor show The Legend of Korra), which was available on Netflix for the first time.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, star Dante Basco, who played the irascible Prince Zuko, gave his thoughts on why the series has endured even over a decade after it ended. “If you look in the show, it’s a time of unrest and imbalance in the world of Avatar,” he said. “It’s this group of kids trying to find the balance in the world. And I think collectively, the world, we’re all in the Gaang, we’re in this group of kids going, ‘How can we find balance in the world right now?’ And that’s part of the charm. There are so many lessons that still are relevant today.”

The “Gaang” is named after main character Aang, the titular last airbender and the boy destined to save the world by bringing it back into balance. Voice actor Zach Tyler Eisen acting left acting after the show, but after Basco tracked him down, he’ll be joining several other cast members in an online reunion tomorrow!

And no, the irony of the guy who played Zuko hunting down the boy who played Aang is not lost on Basco. “The little inside pun is ‘I found him!'” Fans can also expect Jack de Sena (Sokka), Grey Griffin (Azula), Michaela Murphy (Toph) and maybe Mae Whitman (Katara) to be there.

“We haven’t seen each other for months and years now,” Basco said. “And to really be on the same panel together to talk about the show, to answer questions, to talk about our experiences, to talk about the resurgence of the show, what it means 15 years later, and what it means in this time of pandemic and this time of unrest.”

"As actors and as filmmakers, you always want to do something that hopefully people remember. To be a part of a project like Avatar that, in its own way, is like its own Star Wars universe, that’s very cool. It’s something that I never expected coming out of doing an animation from Nickelodeon."

With all this renewed interest, you’d think that Netflix would be going all out to promote its upcoming live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but that show has been going through some issues. Originally, animated series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were signed on as showrunners, but they left several months back, saying that Netflix wasn’t honoring their creative vision as it had promised.

That’s not a good sign for the success of the project. At one point, DiMartino and Konietzko were talking to Basco about consulting on the show, but that seems less likely now. “Who knows, down the line I may be involved if it makes sense,” Basco said. “So we’ll see what happens. I think like the rest of the fanbase, my fingers are crossed for the best stuff to happen with the project.”

We’ll cross our fingers too. In the meantime, you can find out more about the cast reunion here.

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