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Netflix ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’: First Look At Fire Nation & Characters Ozai, Fire Lord, Iroh, Zhao, Azula

Draugoth

Gold Member

We’re getting the first look at the Fire Nation characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix‘s live-action reimagining of the award-winning Nickelodeon animated series. The streamer released several photos Tuesday (see above and below) of the Fire Nation characters which include Daniel Dae Kim as “Fire Lord Ozai,” Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as “General Iroh,” Ken Leung as “Commander Zhao,” and Elizabeth Yu as “Princess Azula,” along with a new image of Dallas Liu as “Prince Zuko.”

Written by Albert Kim. the series follows Aang (Gordon Cormier), the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire and Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the terrifying Fire Nation.

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Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix

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Ken Leung as Zhao in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix

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Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix

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Elizabeth Yu as Azula in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
I'm sure his acting is fine but he looks like he came out of a Bethesda character generator.

Or he is the love child of Bruce Campbell and some asian lady.

I just hope they have a hell of a stunt team or these kids are all martial art phenoms.

I think they prioritized kids who have some martial arts experience and not "pretty boys/girls" and relying solely on the stunt team to sell the martial arts/bending.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Netflix adaptation... aaaaand I'm out.

Doesn't matter how accurate the characters look, if it's got classic 2023 writing it'll be woke garbage. God forbid they just faithfully recreate the series, not like it's beloved or anything...

I guess we'll see, but I have no faith
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Netflix adaptation... aaaaand I'm out.

Doesn't matter how accurate the characters look, if it's got classic 2023 writing it'll be woke garbage. God forbid they just faithfully recreate the series, not like it's beloved or anything...

I guess we'll see, but I have no faith

Their Lost In Space remake was amazing... great mix of drama, scifi and comedy... 3 seasons. Had an ending. There's other series ... you're missing out if you think everything is "woke"...
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Netflix adaptation... aaaaand I'm out.

Doesn't matter how accurate the characters look, if it's got classic 2023 writing it'll be woke garbage. God forbid they just faithfully recreate the series, not like it's beloved or anything...

I guess we'll see, but I have no faith
Hard to imagine how they would do that if the core casting is faithful. It's all heterosexual relationships to the extent there are any, and would they really have a child like Toph express a preference (though now that I think about it, she was flirty with boys in the cartoon I think)? Sure they could try to inject some "fire nation colonizers oppressing the native water-benders" stuff but seems like there are few outright white folk in this so I don't think that characterization would be allowed. Same with any gender role stuff, the cartoon had none of that IIRC, maybe a bit between the different siblings at various times.

This really should stick to the cartoon, im more interested in how they represent those hybrid animal species and just how action oriented it will be with martial arts versus just tossing red, blue, white, or brown CGI blobs at each other.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Their Lost In Space remake was amazing... great mix of drama, scifi and comedy... 3 seasons. Had an ending. There's other series ... you're missing out if you think everything is "woke"...
To be fair.. I never watched it.

But that wasn't the reason why, I just felt the IP was too corny to be taken seriously.

And I don't think everything is woke, I find apple, HBO and a few others are putting out great stuff, but I see patterns and Netflix and Disney are pretty obvious with what they do, hence why south park is having a jab at them now with their upcoming special.

There's nothing wrong with skipping shit, better than hate watching that's just being a hypocrite
 

StueyDuck

Member
Hard to imagine how they would do that if the core casting is faithful. It's all heterosexual relationships to the extent there are any, and would they really have a child like Toph express a preference (though now that I think about it, she was flirty with boys in the cartoon I think)? Sure they could try to inject some "fire nation colonizers oppressing the native water-benders" stuff but seems like there are few outright white folk in this so I don't think that characterization would be allowed. Same with any gender role stuff, the cartoon had none of that IIRC, maybe a bit between the different siblings at various times.

This really should stick to the cartoon, im more interested in how they represent those hybrid animal species and just how action oriented it will be with martial arts versus just tossing red, blue, white, or brown CGI blobs at each other.
Well that's what we hope, that Netflix can actually make an actual adaptation for something the way it should be, let's wait and see I suppose but this is Netflix...
 

StueyDuck

Member
One Piece is quite good. Accurate adaption as well.
Haven't watched it but it looked really... yeah. Like cosplay.

But again I'm not a fan of the anime so I wouldn't be able to speak on how accurate it was 🤷‍♂️ I know the cowboy bebop was hot shit.
 

kunonabi

Member
Haven't watched it but it looked really... yeah. Like cosplay.

But again I'm not a fan of the anime so I wouldn't be able to speak on how accurate it was 🤷‍♂️ I know the cowboy bebop was hot shit.
It makes a few politically correct moves but nowhere near as bad as they usually do. Although, I suppose we'll see how things go if they ever get to Crocodile, Yamato, etc.
 

Jenov

Member
And this is Katara and Sokka

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Katara and Aang look spot on. Sokka, maybe, depending on his acting. Azula looks off, too nice looking, not enough mean girl. All the adults look fine.

Edit: the more I look at Azula the more I get Rose vibes from Star Wars 🫠
 
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Fbh

Gold Member
Looks pretty good! I just hope the child actors are GOT tier good, as that's always tricky.

Netflix adaptation... aaaaand I'm out.

Doesn't matter how accurate the characters look, if it's got classic 2023 writing it'll be woke garbage. God forbid they just faithfully recreate the series, not like it's beloved or anything...

I guess we'll see, but I have no faith

The good thing about Avatar is that aside from no major homosexual relationships (until Korra) it already has all the stuff on the modern Hollywood checklist: Non white protagonist, lots of diversity, strong female characters who are as skilled or even more so than the male ones in combat, etc.

Except unlike most Netflix stuff the world and characters are actually well written and feel natural. To this day I still think Avatar is one of the best examples of diversity done right, so on paper as long as they just respect the source material we should have a win-win scenario where Netflix gets to fill their checklist but we actually get a good show.
 
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DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
All they had to do was find someone that looked evil at a glance and slightly unhinged, that grows increasingly unhinged as the show progresses.

This girl looks like she's gonna try to sell me cookies when I leave the grocery store.

Azula in the toon was supposed to be a pretty girl. Remember, she's 14. This young girl is pretty... I'm sure she'll look unhinged more as the story goes in Book 2 and 3.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Well, if you never watched the cartoon. I watched a lot and Azula is a huge miss there. The rest are cool.

I've watched the toon multiple times... As far as looks, she looks fine. Azula's look is only a screenshot here. We haven't seen her move or speak...

I think the kids will do great!
 

Fake

Member
I've watched the toon multiple times... As far as looks, she looks fine. Azula's look is only a screenshot here. We haven't seen her move or speak...

I think the kids will do great!

Her face looks bloated and expressionless and doesn't match her anime face, unlike the others. And we don't need to watch others positions to jugde her face lol.
And if you think is fine, totally fair. The point is you not understanding why people are complaining about her.
 

Doom85

Gold Member
I've watched the toon multiple times... As far as looks, she looks fine. Azula's look is only a screenshot here. We haven't seen her move or speak...

I think the kids will do great!

Not to mention, Azula did not look unhinged at the beginning IIRC. Dangerous, smug, short temper, but not crazy. That was a slow breakdown over the course of the series. I’d rather casting that isn’t on-the-nose about it as opposed to being in your face about “hey, guys, she’s really crazy!”

For example, The Shining. Solid film, but anyone who’s read the book knows Jack is supposed to be a recovering alcoholic who is working on his temper but isn’t mentally unstable but rather the hotel itself corrupts him. In the movie, Jack just feels unstable from the get go, because as great as Nicholson is, he’s just the sort of actor that gives off that vibe. As such, he never felt like Jack from the book to me.

So yeah, Azula not looking crazy should not be an issue if one knows the cartoon.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Elizabeth Yu is too chubby and cute.

Zuko's burn scar looks like a black eye. Whoever thought that was anywhere near good enough should be fired.

How did they manage to fuck that up?
 
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Their Lost In Space remake was amazing... great mix of drama, scifi and comedy... 3 seasons. Had an ending. There's other series ... you're missing out if you think everything is "woke"...
Lost in Space is a 6/10 show. Good but not amazing. It peaked in the first season. Third season was kinda crap.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
OMG... She has a very round face! So does the girl who played Rose in The Last Jedi... Even though she's a size 4! Lots of Asian women have "fat" looking faces and very slim bodies.

And so is this girl .. look her up. Elizabeth Yu. She's a little thing!
 

Xenon

Member
Anybody expecting this to be accurate to the original series needs to remember that the creators walked away from this.

Sorry right now it's, looking more like the Wish version of the Avatar The Last Air Bender.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
That’s a size 4?:

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I'm sorry. What's your point? Wait, this is "fat" to you?


My point wasn't that she is LITERALLY a size 4 but that she isn't fat.


Even with being smaller, women's weight fluctuates. And her face is STILL very round... That's just genetics.

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