Avatar: The Last Airbender star wants more episodes so "things don't feel as compact and rushed"

Last month, Netflix dropped the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, its live-action remake of the beloved animated Nickelodeon series, and we're very happy to tell you that it was, on the whole...fine. I mean, people watched it enough for Netflix to renew the show for another two seasons, allowing the creators to finish out the story, so it clearly did something right.

One of those things was the casting. The lead actors — including Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka and Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko — were pretty on the mark, and I'm looking forward to seeing them grow further in future seasons. Liu sat down with The Direct to ruminate on what he most wants to see out of future seasons. one thing that would be really cool to me is if they touched on Zuko and Azula’s mother more in our series… That'd be cool to get to see Azula's relationship with her mom."

Both Zuko and his sister Azula make do under the tyrannical parenting of their father Ozai, their mother Ursa having disappeared under mysterious circumstances years ago. Ursa's fate is actually revealed in a comic that was published after the original run of Avatar: The Last Airbender ended, but that story didn't made it into the proper show. I think it would be very cool if the live-action remake included this story, since it would give the show a reason to exist beyond just cashing in on an older show that's already great as it is.

Dallas Liu (Zuko) hopes filming on Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 gets underway "before August"

The show would find it easier to tackle stories like this if it had a few more episodes to work with. The first season only had eight episodes, but Liu is hoping for more down the road. "Just so that also things don't feel as compact and rushed," he said. "I'm hoping for 10. And then, you know, [for] the third season, there's so much going on, I feel like you have to give it if not 10, [then] 12."

Liu also weighed in on when the team might get to work on those episodes, saying he'd love to start "before August." This interview was given before the show officially got renewed, so hopefully his optimistic hope gets borne out.

One of the most exciting new characters to be introduced in the second season of the original show is Toph, a young earthbender who instructs Aang in the ways of this ancient martial art/magical technique. Like Aang, Toph is a kid, which is going to make casting her very difficult.

"The character is so specific, and she's really got to have that toughness that Toph brings to the screen," Liu mused. "I mean, the poor girl probably would have to walk around barefoot everywhere in all of our scenes. You know, she's also got to be mentally tough as a human being, as an actress at such a young age."

"But that'll be exciting because I think Gordon [Cormier] will be able to really have a true friend throughout that. Not that you know, Kiawentiio and me and Ian [Ousley] aren't, but like, we're certainly the older siblings. Whereas having someone the same age for Gordon, I think, would just be really nice for him to share that experience with."

Now that future seasons of the show have been officially announced, hopefully Liu and company are able to get moving on things sooner rather than later.

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