Remember the previous Last Airbender film? Y’know the one directed by M. Night Shyamalan, starring a cast of actors who would clearly rather be at home? Great, now discard it from your thoughts, stick it in your psychological firing range and rid its rotten existence. The good news is Netflix is working on a new live-action adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon TV series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the streaming service having recently announced the casting of lead characters Azula, Suki, Avatar Kyoshi, Gran Gran and Suki’s mother Yukari.
Elizabeth Yu is due to play the fire-bending perfectionist, Azula, while Maria Zhang will play Suki, the leader of the elite squad of fighters named the Kyoshi Warriors. Meanwhile, Yvonne Chapman will appear as the brave warrior Avatar Kyoshi, Casey Camp-Horinek will play the compassionate Gran Gran and Tamlyn Tomita will feature as Suki’s mother, and mayor, Yukari.
Such actors join those who have already been confirmed for the brand new TV series, including Gordon Cormier playing the lead role of Aang, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Daniel Dae Kim, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Ken Leung and Lim Kay Siu. An adaptation of the beloved animated series has been toyed with for many years with millennials and Gen Z fans keeping interest in the story alive.
The previous live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender was directed by M. Night Shyamalan in 2010 and tried too hard to adapt the series into an epic blockbuster film. Received to a dismal reception, the film starred Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Dev Patel, Jackson Rathbone, Aasif Mandvi and Cliff Curtis.
The brand new series from Netflix looks to repair the mistrust that fans now have in a live-action adaptation, with the latest project being helmed by Michael Dante DiMartino, one of the writers of the original Nickelodeon series.
