“Avatar: The Last Airbender” revolutionized TV, and now the franchise is expanding. We’ve had comics and novels for a while now, with fantastic stories that expand the world of “Avatar” and paint a picture of different eras and different reincarnations of the titular master of all four elements. But now we’re going back to the screen, both big and small, with a new sequel series as well as a movie, “The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender.”
Directed by Lauren Montgomery, who worked as a storyboard artist in season 3 of the show, and then as a supervising producer on the entirety of “The Legend of Korra,” details on “The Legend of Aang” are scarce, but we do know it is a set after the original series, but before “Korra,” following the main cast as young adults. Studio Mir will return to work on the animation alongside Flying Bark Productions, which is great given Mir’s familiarity with the franchise.
As much as there has been excitement over the new project, some fans are worried, primarily because of the recasting of every main character from the original series. We know Eric Nam will be the new voice of Aang, Jessica Matten and Román Zaragoza will play Katara and Sokka, and Dionne Quan is the new voice of Toph Beifong. After it was reported that Steven Yeun was joining the cast earlier this year, show creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko confirmed to IGN that Yeun will actually be the new voice of Fire Lord Zuko. Yeun is replacing Dante Basco, who voiced the character in the original cartoon.
Yes, it sucks to see someone else take over a role that is so intrinsically connected to a voice actor, but not only does Dante Basco (as great an actor as he is) still sound as a teenager when he’s nearly 50, real fans know to chill out — because no one is ever really gone in “Avatar.”
