Lost and Hawaii Five-0 veteran Daniel Dae Kim has joined Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series as the show’s main antagonist Fire Lord Ozai, the all-powerful leader of the Fire Nation and father of Prince Zuko and Azula. He becomes the fifth actor to be confirmed in the main cast, alongside Gordon Cormier (Aang), Kiawentiio Tarbell (Katara), Ian Ousley (Sokka), and Dallas Liu (Zuko).
Ozai was voiced by Mark Hamill in the animated series and played for the first time in live-action by Cliff Curtis (Fear The Walking Dead) in M. Night Shyamalan’s disappointing big-screen adaptation in 2010. After a recent resurgence of the franchise after Netflix began streaming the animated show, the platform is hoping a new live-action version can take things to new heights. They haven’t missed on the casting so far — something that let Shyamalan’s movie down — and now they’ve added their first adult. Kim looks like a perfect casting.
The Netflix version of Ozai won’t deviate much from the one we already know from the original. Per Variety, Netflix’s Fire Lord Ozai is the “ruthlessly-driven leader of the Fire Nation who demands everyone live up to his impossible standards, especially his teen son, Prince Zuko. Ozai’s drive to conquer and unite the world under firebender rule is a family burden — he believes that it’s his destiny to finish a war started by his ancestors.” Sounds spot on.
Interestingly, this isn’t Kim’s first foray into the Avatar universe. He voiced General Fond in both the original show and in a video game tie-in. He also played Hiroshi Sato in the popular spinoff show, The Legend of Korra. So he’s already an Avatar veteran.
The Last Airbender stars welcome their new Ozai
Kim announced his casting on Instagram, captioning his post with the ominous words, “It’s gettin’ hot in here,” prompting responses from costars Gordon Cormier (Aang) and Dallas Liu (Zuko). The war has already started:
Gordon Cormier (Aang) and Dallas Liu (Zuko) comment on Daniel Dae Kim (Ozai)'s Instagram post pic.twitter.com/qb97aikydb
— Avatar News (@AvatarNews_) November 4, 2021
Currently, there’s no release date Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series. However, according to popular fansite Avatar News, filming will commence this month, so hopefully, we see it on our screens sometime next year.
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