The Big Picture

The
Avatar: The Last Airbender
actors discussed playing main characters, with Cormier playing Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ousley as Sokka, and Liu as Zuko.
Actors share their familiarity with the original series, experiences filming action scenes, and strengths/weaknesses of their characters.
The cast underwent physical training boot camp to prepare for the physical demands of the series, focusing on martial arts and combat training.

When it comes to bringing a show like Avatar: The Last Airbender to life, there is nothing more important than making sure the casting is perfect. With such a large cast of young characters, the actors portraying these characters are under a lot of pressure to portray beloved characters while also putting their own spin on that role. The Netflix live-action series is based on the animated series of the same name, and it is set in a mythological world where some people are born with the power to manipulate a natural element like fire, water, air, and earth, which is called “bending.” After the Fire Nation attacks the Air Nomads, the world is plunged into war. The only person who can save them? The Avatar, a person who can bend all four elements. But, at the worst time, the Avatar goes missing and is gone for 100 years before he finally is discovered frozen in a sphere of ice.

We spoke with actors Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Dallas Liu, and Ian Ousley about the task of taking on the main characters of the series. Cormier plays Aang, the titular Avatar who is also an airbender. Kiawentiio plays Katara, a waterbender. Ousley plays Sokka, Katara’s older brother who is also a warrior. And Liu plays Zuko, a firebender and exiled prince of the Fire Nation. We discussed the actors’ familiarity with the original series as well as what it was like to film some of the action sequences. We also talked about what each actor felt was a weakness and strength for their characters. Finally, the actors discussed going to boot camp to prep for the series and the physical training that went into the series.

You can watch the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Live-Action) A young boy known as the Avatar must master the four elemental powers to save the world and fight against an enemy bent on stopping him.Release Date February 22, 2024 Creator Albert Kim Seasons 1

The Cast Discuss Playing Characters in a Show That They Were a Fan Of
COLLIDER: I’ve always loved this series, and it was such a great experience to see it out in live-action. I’m curious, were you guys familiar with the animated series, and was there an element of the animated series that you wanted to see in live-action that maybe you haven’t seen yet or maybe has already been in the series?

DALLAS LIU: Yeah, I’d never watched the show ever before now. [Laughs]

KIAWENTIIO: Oh my god.

LIU: No, I’m very familiar with the show. We’ve been waiting so long for the VFX, and we also had just recently received the episodes to watch, so I think seeing final cuts of bending scenes was such a cool experience, specifically water bending. We knew that was a very important one for our series, and I think the way that it flows, and with the creatures and how it is involved in the environments that we’re living and fighting in, it looks great.

IAN OUSLEY: I grew up watching the show, and then when it came back on Netflix during COVID, I rewatched it again, so it was really cool to be able to play it being a fan of the show. And so, one thing that I wanted to see come into live-action was just more of the relationships of the characters, which I think is a really fun dynamic, and the action. We incorporate so much in this live-action adaptation from the animated series, and so when you’re doing that with real people and real fighting and all that stuff, it’s stylized a different way just because everything is more real. It was really cool to see that. I obviously don’t do too much of that, but getting to spectate you guys do all that stuff was really cool for me.

Image via Netflix

LIU: Looking at us and yelling, and going like this, “Ahh!”

OUSLEY: That was funny. He had, like, an Iron Man thing in his palm, so it would glow for the fire.

LIU: To help the VFX.

OUSLEY: So he’d just, like, sideswipe and do something really cool, and just end with, like, “Ahh!” And it’s like a taped-up Iron Man little button. [Laughs] It was awesome.

That sounds amazing, and also probably required a lot of imagination on your guys’ end.

LIU: For sure!

I don’t know how you do that while keeping a straight face at all.

Finding a Character’s Weakness and Overcoming It With Strength

So, these characters, they’re young, but they have a really heavy burden on their shoulders, and really strong motivations. What do you think, for you guys individually, for your characters, is a weakness that you think holds them back, but then also is there strength that helps them overcome those weaknesses?

OUSLEY: Well, Sokka, in a way, is a little bit of a freeloader. He’s not doing too much. He’s riding along with Appa, he’s hanging out. But I think maybe one of his weaknesses would be, like, not wanting to be vulnerable at all, just covering it all up with humor. I think the strength with him is he has to older brother, a little bit, these guys, just because they’re younger. The only thing he’s got is the age, so I feel like he’s being protected by them bending-wise but he’s emotionally there for them. I think that’s his strength is, like, even though he’s covering it up with humor, he’s still getting to be strong for the kids.

GORDON CORMIER: He tries his best.

OUSLEY: He tries his best. That’s for sure.

KIAWENTIIO: I think for Katara’s character, I feel like the loss of her mother at such a young age was a huge part in her confidence, and that was something that held her back for a while. I feel like there is a moment going along in the series where there is like a shift in that, and she starts to see it in a new light, and it unlocks this, like, flow of energy, and she just is able to overcome that and master waterbending.

Image via Netflix

CORMIER: I feel like Aang being so young, or such a child, can just be such a disadvantage and an advantage at the same time. Like, he’s very immature, but at the same time, it helps him because, well, not many adults would be like, “Oh, I need my friends to help me! My friends, my friends, my friends…” but Aang can do it, and he makes it work to his advantage. Like, he has you guys and, well, it’s just such a big help.

LIU: And me!

OUSLEY: You’re not helping, bro.

KIAWENTIIO: [Laughs] You’re part of the problem, bro.

CORMIER: I got a guy with, like, horrible daddy issues chasing me down.

OUSLEY: Someone play, “I’m the problem, it’s me,” right now. This guy. [Laughs]

LIU: I think Zuko has more weaknesses than strengths. His single-mindedness, I think, and his stubbornness definitely aren’t helping him through his journey. However, he is very lucky to have Uncle Iroh’s love and support. I think their little one-on-one talks in his room are essential because in those really stressful moments you kind of see, like, I guess a little flicker of Uncle Iroh’s words in Zuko’s head when he’s in those scenes.

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Preparing For the Physical Demands of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’
Image via Netflix

In this series, there’s a lot of physicality to these roles, not only when it comes to bending, but also just combat in general. This is a very kinetic series. Did you guys have to train for this, and how extensive was the training going into it?

KIAWENTIIO: So we did a boot camp like a month or two before we started filming. So we were in training every day trying to get our moves down, going over our specific fighting styles, and just really trying to get our bodies ready for all the action that we had to do. But it was really a really cool experience. I mean, I’ve never gone through anything like that before, just because I’m not as well-versed in martial arts like these guys. They didn’t really have to even do all that because they’re just… [gestures to Ousley] World Champion…

OUSLEY: [About Liu] Better than me. He’s so good.

KIAWENTIIO: Doing flips in the corner! [Laughs]

Avatar: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Netflix.

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