Netflix confirms cast for live-action Last Airbender remake

Yesterday, some information about Netflix’s upcoming live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender leaked. Today, Netflix has confirmed that it’s all true. Meet the official cast of this new, ambitious show!

Avatar: The Last Airbender debuted in 2005 on Nickelodeon and has enjoyed consistent popularity ever since. It follows Aang, a young boy with the power to control all four elements: air, water, fire and earth. He is the Avatar, who has the responsibility of bringing balance to a world divided into four nations. Under the Avatar, the four nations live in harmony, but when a young Aang runs away from his destiny and gets frozen in ice for a century, things get out of whack. And as the saying goes, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked…

And now let’s meet our heroes, starting with Aang himself:

Gordon Cormier is Aang in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

As Netflix describes him, Aang is “a fearless and fun-loving twelve-year-old who just happens to be the Avatar, master of all four elements and the keeper of balance and peace in the world. An airbending prodigy, Aang is a reluctant hero, struggling to deal with the burden of his duties while still holding on to his adventurous and playful nature.”

As for Cormier, he’s appeared in Netflix’s Lost in Space, Turner and Hooch on Disney+, and The Stand on Paramount+. He’s got Aang’s impish smile down, and he has experience with martial arts, which will be key to the show’s many action scenes:

Next up, we have Katara, who finds Aang frozen in the ice with her brother Sokka:

Kiawentiio is Karata in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

Per Netflix, Katara is “a determined and hopeful waterbender, the last in her small village. Though only fourteen, she’s already endured great personal tragedy, which has held her back from rising to her true potential, though it’s never dimmed her warm and caring spirit.”

Kiawentiio is probably best known for her recurring role in Netflix’s Anne with an E; she also has a role in What If…? on Disney+.

Ian Ousley is Sokka in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

Netflix describes Sokka as “Katara’s sardonic and resourceful 16-year-old brother. Outwardly confident, even brash, he takes his responsibility as the leader of his tribe seriously, despite his inner doubts over his warrior skills… doubts that he masks with his wit and deadpan sense of humor.”

Ousley is also experienced with martial arts, and is best known for his recurring role on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why.

And Netflix revealed one more member of the cast:

Dallas Liu is Prince Zuko in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

Zuko is “a skilled firebender and the intense and guarded Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. Currently roaming the world in exile, he’s on an obsessive quest to capture the Avatar because he believes that is the only way to reclaim his life and live up to the demands of his cruel and controlling father, the Fire Lord.”

Liu has starred in Hulu’s PEN15, and can be seen in Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

So far, the cast looks pretty good!

Avatar: The Last Airbender showrunner explains why the story needs a live-action remake

The man running the show is Albert Kim, who in a note credits his daughter with getting him into the original Nickelodeon series. He also talks about why he feels that a remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender could be worthwhile, even though he — like a lot of fans — at first wondered what the point was when the original show is so good and enduring. “So if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

"But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. VFX technology has advanced to the point where a live-action version can not only faithfully translate what had been done in animation — it can bring a rich new visual dimension to a fantastic world. We’ll be able to see bending in a real and visceral way we’ve never seen before.Also, Netflix’s format meant we had an opportunity to reimagine a story that had originally been told in self-contained half-hour episodes as an ongoing serialized narrative. That meant story points and emotional arcs we’d loved in the original could be given even more room to breathe and grow.Finally, a live-action version would establish a new benchmark in representation and bring in a whole new generation of fans. This was a chance to showcase Asian and Indigenous characters as living, breathing people. Not just in a cartoon, but in a world that truly exists, very similar to the one we live in."

Kim also said that he “didn’t want to change things for the sake of change. I didn’t want to modernize the story, or twist it to fit current trends. Aang is not going to be a gritty antihero. Katara is not going to get curtain bangs. (I was briefly tempted to give Sokka a TikTok account though. Think of the possibilities.)”

There’s no release date for Netflix’s Last Airbender show yet, but we’ll be keeping a look out.

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