Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender Adds 8 To Cast
Variety reported today that Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation cast eight more characters. The new cast members include Chin Han (Mortal Kombat, Skyscraper), Hoa Xuande (The Sympathizer, Top of the Lake: China Girl), Justin Chien (The Brothers Sun, The Great Leap), Amanda Zhou (Spinning Out, The Handmaid’s Tale), Crystal Yu (Doctor Who, Good Omens), Kelemete Misipeka (Sons of Thunder, Ray Donovan ), Lourdes Faberes (The Sandman, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre), and Rekha Sharma (Yellowjackets, Battlestar Galactica).
Han has been cast as Long Feng, the leader of Ba Sing Se’s secret police, the Dai Li. In the original Avatar, he held the real power in Ba Sing Se, hiding behind the figurehead God-king. Xuande will play Professor Zei, Ba Sing Se’s head of anthropology. He was fixated on Wan Shi Tong’s legendary library and got more than he wished for in a visit. Chien will portray King Kuei, the puppet King of the Earth Kingdom. Zhou is playing Joo Dee, another of Long Feng’s goons. In Book 2 of the original Avatar, she keeps an eye on Aang and his friends in Ba Sing Se for Feng. Yu has been cast as Toph’s mother, Lady Beifong. Misipeka is playing The Boulder, a professional earth-bending fighter at Earth Rumble. He’s based on The Rock, who the animated series’ creators initially wanted to voice the character. Mick Foley, another WWE fighter, ended up voicing the loud-mouthed brawler. Faberes is cast as General Sung, one of the King’s council of five in Ba Sing Se. Sharma has a new role, an original character named Amita.
These newcomers will join stars Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Elizabeth Yu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Daniel Dae Kim, Momona Tamada, and Thalia Tran. Miya Cech has already been announced as the new actress for Toph Beifong. This most recent live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender is a joint production between Netflix and Nickelodeon, the latter of whom aired the original Avatar. Netflix has ordered season 3, ending the show with the Book of Fire, just like the original. Jabbar Raisani and Christine Boylan executive produce and run the show. Albert Kim developed the live-action adaptation and executive produces alongside Dan Lin, Ryan Halprin, and Brendan Ferguson.
I must embarrass myself now by admitting I don’t know any of these performers. They have some pretty impressive credits to their names; I guess I just don’t watch enough new shows. I’ll take this as an opportunity to learn about more actors. I’m intrigued to hear that they’ve created a new character, and I wonder what she’ll tie into. I haven’t hated all of the changes they’ve made in the remake, although I think the original show will always be better. It’s my favorite TV series, and the live-action remake has some massive boots to fill. I don’t love the way certain storylines and characters have been pushed together, although I imagine it was due to time constraints. Going down to eight episodes a season from twenty must mean a lot of economizing. Most of the casting has been strong in this series, so I’m sure these performers will do well enough, too. Performances like those from Dallas Liu as Zuko and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Uncle Iroh are the best things to come out of the remake, at least so far.
But what do you think of the casting? Are you familiar with these actors, and do you like them? Do you like the Avatar: The Last Airbender remake series so far? Let us know in the comments!
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