The Last Airbender Live Action Cast

[Lilliana Adames]

Longago, four nations lived together in harmony. Now, the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads are joining forces to introduce the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Premiering on Feb. 22, the live-action adaptation based on the Nickelodeon animated series will follow Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, and Air) and restore balance to a world threatened by the Fire Nation. The immersive world of Avatar: The Last Airbender is populated with nascent heroes, determined foes, wise mentors, and many more memorable characters.

A fearless and fun-loving 12-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 staying true to his adventurous and playful nature.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American adventure fantasy television series developed by Albert Kim for Netflix. It is a live-action adaptation of the animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelodeon. The series stars an ensemble cast including Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Ken Leung, and Daniel Dae Kim.

The series is set in a fictional world where human civilization is divided into four nations based on the four classical elements: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. In each nation, some people known as "benders" can telekinetically manipulate one of the four elements. The story follows the journey of twelve-year-old Avatar Aang, the last survivor of the Air Nomads and the next "Avatar" who can master all four elements, awoken after a century of being frozen in ice. The series was first announced in September 2018, with DiMartino and Konietzko attached as both executive producers and showrunners. However, in June 2020, the pair departed the series over creative differences. In August 2021, Kim was officially announced as a writer, executive producer and showrunner.

In 2018, Netflix announced that a "reimagined" live-action remake of Avatar was to start production in 2019.[47][48] The series' original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, were initially announced to be the executive producers and showrunners.[49][50] In June 2020, the creators departed the series due to creative differences. This was revealed after DiMartino published an open letter on his own website on August 12, 2020. The pair cited differences in their approach to the show compared with Netflix's vision, also citing a "negative and unsupporting" environment during their time with the studio;[51][52][53][54] the duo ultimately received writing credits for the first and sixth episodes.[55]

In August 2021, Albert Kim was officially announced as a writer, executive producer and showrunner; he commented in a blog post: "My first thought was, 'Why? What is there I could do or say with the story that wasn't done or said in the original?' But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. We'll be able to see bending in a real and visceral way we've never seen before."[56] In the same post, Kim emphasized that "throughout this process, our byword has been 'authenticity'. To the story. To the characters. To the cultural influences. Authenticity is what keeps us going, both in front of the camera and behind it." Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore, Michael Goi, and Roseanne Liang were also announced as executive producers with Goi and Liang both directing episodes of the series.[57][56] In the first season, each episode reportedly cost more than $15 million to make.[58]

On March 6, 2024, the series was renewed for a second and third season, with it set to conclude with the latter.[59] On April 4, 2024, it was announced that Kim would be stepping down as showrunner but would remain as an executive producer, while co-executive producer Christine Boylan and executive producer Jabbar Raisani would become showrunners for the second and third seasons.[60]

Prior to their departure, DiMartino and Konietzko had revealed that they are committed to "culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed casting" according to a statement from Konietzko.[61] Konietzko had said that he was hoping to include Dante Basco, the original voice actor who played Zuko.[62] In August 2021 following leaked casting reports, Netflix revealed the show's cast for the main four characters: Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley and Dallas Liu as Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko respectively.[56] Kim felt that "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."[63] In November 2021, Daniel Dae Kim, who previously voiced General Fong in the animated series and later Hiroshi Sato in The Legend of Korra, joined the cast of the series as Fire Lord Ozai.[8] Later that month, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Lim Kay Siu, and Ken Leung joined the cast of the series, playing Iroh, Gyatso, and Commander Zhao respectively.[7] In December, Elizabeth Yu, Yvonne Chapman, Tamlyn Tomita, Casey Camp-Horinek and Maria Zhang were added to the cast, respectively playing Azula, Avatar Kyoshi, Yukari (a new character added as Suki's mother in replacement of the mayor of Kyoshi Island), Gran Gran and Suki.[11]

In April 2022, Arden Cho and Momona Tamada joined the cast as June and Ty-Lee.[33][18] Later that month, C. S. Lee was cast as Avatar Roku.[38] In June 2022, A Martinez and Amber Midthunder were cast as Master Pakku and Princess Yue respectively.[41][20] In July 2022, it was revealed that James Sie would reprise his role as the Cabbage Merchant from the animated series.[30] In September 2022, more additional roles were announced, with two of them being George Takei as the voice of Koh the Face Stealer and Randall Duk Kim as the voice of Wan Shi Tong. Takei previously voiced the Fire Nation Prison Rig Warden in the animated series, while Duk Kim had a minor role in the 2010 live-action film The Last Airbender.[64]

Production and filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 16, 2021.[65][66] The series was filmed under the working titles Trade Winds and Blue Dawn. Principal photography wrapped on June 17, 2022.[67][57][68][7][69] Stewart Whelan served as a cinematographer.[70]

Jeremy Zuckerman, who composed music for the original show, was originally set to return to compose the music for the remake[72] but later denied his involvement with the show after DiMartino and Konietzko left the project.[73]

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season 59% approval rating based on 75 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Avatar: The Last Airbender serves as a solid live-action entry point into the beloved franchise, although it only sporadically recaptures the magic of its source material."[80] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[81]

The Avatar live-action show was announced in 2018 but only started production in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announced cast features a set of fresh faces led by the young actor Gordon Cormier as Aang, as well as other renowned actors in Hollywood.

16-year-old Canadian actress Momona Tamada is bringing zest and enthusiasm to the show as Ty Lee. She is close friends with Azula and Mai, whom she met during their time in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.

The Chinese-American actor is the voice behind many animated characters, including Jackie Chan in Jackie Chan Adventures, Master Monkey in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and, of course, the cabbage merchant in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Development for the film began in January 2007, and the casting and pre-production process happened during 2008. Principal photography began on March 2009 and ended on September, with a preliminary schedule held in Greenland for two weeks, and the rest of the film being shot in major locations across Pennsylvania, United States. Post-production began in August and took several months due to extensive visual effects. The name Avatar was dropped from the title to avoid confusion with James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar.

The Last Airbender premiered at the Alice Tully Hall in New York City on June 30, 2010, and was theatrically released in United States the following day by Paramount Pictures. The film was panned by critics and fans, with several publications calling it one of the worst films of all time. Produced on a $150 million budget, the film grossed $319.7 million worldwide. The Last Airbender was originally envisioned as the first of a trilogy of films based on the three seasons of the series, but due to its disappointing box office performance and negative reviews, the planned trilogy was ultimately scrapped.

A century has passed since the Fire Nation declared war on the other three nations of air, water, and earth in its attempt to conquer the world. Sokka and his younger sister Katara, who live in the Southern Water Tribe, discover an unusual iceberg. Breaking into the iceberg releases a beam of light and reveals a 12-year-old boy named Aang and his pet flying bison Appa.

Zuko, the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, detects the light from Aang's release and arrives at the Southern Water Tribe to demand the villagers hand over the Avatar: the only person capable of manipulating, or "bending", all four elements of air, water, earth, and fire. Aang surrenders himself to save the village, but escapes the Fire Nation ship and flies to Appa, brought by Katara and Sokka. The trio travel to Aang's homeland at the Southern Air Temple, where Aang learns he was in the iceberg for a century and that the Fire Nation wiped out the other Air Nomads, including his guardian Monk Gyatso. In despair, Aang enters the Avatar State and finds himself in the Spirit World where he encounters a Dragon Spirit. Katara's pleas bring Aang out of the Avatar State.

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