Avatar: The Last Airbender star talks “passing the torch” to Netflix actors

Nickelodeon’s beloved animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently being made into a live-action series at Netflix. With filming now underway, voice actors from the original series have been lending their wisdom to the new faces of the franchise, and also sounding off on whether a live-action remake is really necessary.

For instance, Dante Basco (Zuko) has spoken with actor Dallas Liu about how best to portray Prince Zuko, the mopey, determined teen from the Fire Nation who sets out to fulfill his destiny and capture the Avatar. “I just had a conversation with the new kid playing Zuko on the show for Netflix– Dallas Liu– and we were talking about the character, and, you know, I was kinda passing the torch, like, bro, it’s your turn to play him, how you’re gonna play him,” Basco said at FACTS 2021.

However, rather than dishing out pointers, Basco urged Liu to tackle Zuko from his own angle so that his take doesn’t just feel like a copy-paste of the original. “I’ll tell you things about how I did it, and it could help you on your journey, but ultimately, it’s your turn to play him how you’re gonna play him, wherever that character intersects with you.”

Do we even need a live-action Last Airbender remake?

While Basco is clearly hyped about seeing how the Netflix adaptation turns out, he does have reservations about the series as a whole, especially considering the number of live-action adaptations of animated shows that have failed over the years.

"The crazy thing is a lot of animated projects — whether it be American or anime or whatnot — we all have such a feeling about those projects. It’s almost like, ‘Have we not learned the lessons?’ If you’re gonna do it, do the story that’s continued where we can no longer have a feeling about that scene because we’ve seen that scene. If you just took the characters and put them on a new adventure, then it’ll free up all the artists to progress it. Because I couldn’t think of an animated show that was a live-action [adaptation] that we actually like."

Dee Bradley Baker — who voiced multiple characters in the original series including Appa and Momo — had similar thoughts. “What does another rendering in a different space add or improve to what is already a kind of perfect work of art and a fully-rendered world?” he asked. “Now, I’m not saying that can’t be done, but there’s the bar as far as I’m concerned.”

Of course, Avatar already has a turbulent past when it comes to adaptations. Back in 2010, M. Night Shyamalan attempted to bring it to the big screen in live-action form but failed miserably. Even the upcoming show has hit a few hurdles, such as when original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko departed the project due to creative differences. Rather than work on the live-action show, they’re building on their animated world, developing more shows and even a feature movie under their new production company Avatar Studios.

One massive factor in restoring the hope of fans is the fantastic casting. So far, the cast includes Gordon Cormier (Aang), Kiawentiio Tarbell (Katara), Ian Ousley (Sokka), Dallas Liu (Zuko), Daniel Dae Kim (Fire Lord Ozai), Lim Kay Siu (Gyatso), Ken Leung (Commander Zhao), and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Uncle Iroh).

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently in production. No release date is currently set, but we should expect it to drop on the streamer either late 2022 or early 2023.

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