Netflix has confirmed three more cast members for its live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation, and they contain some key talent from the world of Star Wars – on both the big and small screens.
While prior announcements focused on the main, younger cast members for the new Avatar series, we've now got a look at some of the supporting cast – including the tea-loving firebender Uncle Iroh, antagonist Commandar Zhao, and Aang's once-guardian Gyatso.
Uncle Iroh will be played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, an award-winning theater and film actor who starred in the Disney Plus show The Mandalorian as Captain Carson Teva.
Ken Leung, who starred as Admiral Statura in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will be taking the role of Commander Zhao – a firebender antagonist in the original Avatar show on Nickelodeon.
Finally, Lim Kay Siu is playing the airbender Gyatso, likely for flashback sequences harking back to Aang's childhood.
The cast of Netflix's AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER continues to grow.Meet the actors who will play Uncle Iroh, Gyatso and Commander Zhao. pic.twitter.com/w2vZhDeRPFNovember 16, 2021
We received confirmation of the main cast members earlier in the month. Young actor Gordon Cormier, who featured in the recent TV adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand, will take on the role of Aang. Actress Kiawentiio is playing Katara in the show. Ian Ousley is playing Sokka, while Dallas Liu is playing Zuko in the series.
The original series is about the siblings Sokka and Katara waking Aang after a long sleep – they learn he's an element-wielding being known as an Avatar, and need his air-bending abilities to help defeat an evil faction with world-dominating aspirations known as Fire Nation.
When can I watch the Netflix show?
We don't yet have a scheduled release date for the Avatar Netflix show – though with casting going forward it's likely that production is in early stages, possibly with shooting happening in the following year. We don't expect it in 2022, then, so a 2023 window is our best bet for now.
It's worth noting, too, that the original creators of Avatar have since split with Netflix over creative differences – and set up their own Avatar Studios production company to continue working on the IP. So if you're desperate for more Avatar content, this live-action Netflix show won't be the only thing to hang your hopes on. At the very least, it can't be as bad as that 2010 movie, right?
