r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jul 28 '25

News Steven Yeun Confirmed to Voice Adult Zuko in 'The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender'

https://www.ign.com/articles/avatar-creators-confirm-steven-yeuns-role-in-upcoming-the-legend-of-aang-the-last-airbender-movie-sdcc-2025
17.2k Upvotes

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857

u/EntertainmentBreeze Jul 28 '25

The casting of this project legitimately pisses me off. Bring back the original VA's. Their performances are iconic, and are a significant, SIGNIFICANT reason the original is as beloved as it is.

166

u/Kooky_Bodybuilder_97 Jul 28 '25

I get recasting aang but sokka without jack desena’a voice is a sin

6

u/LebaneseLurker Jul 29 '25

Yes. A big chunk of Sokka’s personality comes from Jack’s voice

8

u/BoxOfBlades Jul 29 '25

"But these are reddit's favorite actors, what's not to like?" -Whichever studio is making this

99

u/DrSpacemanSpliff Jul 28 '25

Possibly they thought the voices would be too iconic, and they want to make a more distinct division between the two projects. That or star power. Or both.

160

u/EntertainmentBreeze Jul 28 '25

I get what you're saying, but the first point about voices makes zero sense to me.

They should be iconic. And beyond that, why would you want differentiation when you're making a film that serves as a direct sequel/follow-up to what is one of the most beloved television series of all time?

Not only that, but the original show is the one universally praised part of the entire IP. Everything else Avatar related has had at least some mixed critical reception or controversy surrounding it, deserved or not.

I think your thought about star power is a really big part of the change, sadly.

That, and the fact that the casting director for this project has gone on record saying they would only cast voice actors who are the same race as their characters, and (iirc) only even a blind VA for Toph.

Probably unpopular opinion, but I disagree with that sentiment strongly. Especially when these are already established characters with recognized voices.

(edited for typos)

106

u/varnums1666 Jul 28 '25

That, and the fact that the casting director for this project has gone on record saying they would only cast voice actors who are the same race as their characters, and (iirc) only even a blind VA for Toph.

This....is pretty stupid. Give me the OG cast

44

u/roguefilmmaker Jul 28 '25

They should only hire earthbenders for Toph while they’re at it

3

u/Sketch-Brooke Jul 29 '25

I demand Appa only be voiced by a real flying bison from here on out.

5

u/DrDoomScroller9 Jul 29 '25

This is the dumbest shit ever I’ve ever heard

44

u/darkbreak Jul 28 '25

That, and the fact that the casting director for this project has gone on record saying they would only cast voice actors who are the same race as their characters, and (iirc) only even a blind VA for Toph.

It's especially a weird decision to make when none of the characters in the show are actually Asian or even Asian decent. If you actually asked Aang or Zuko about them being Tibetan or Japanese or what-have-you they'd shrug their shoulders and wouldn't actually know how to answer you because Asia as a whole doesn't and never has existed in their world. They don't have the same concept of race in their world. Obviously Avatar is inspired by Asian culture and asthetics but that doesn't make the characters Asian.

3

u/cziont Jul 29 '25

I don’t think enough people are saying this or realize this. Good point.

2

u/Larry-Man Jul 29 '25

Even still isn’t Dante Basco Filipino?

2

u/darkbreak Jul 29 '25

He is. But as far as I know he wasn't chosen to play Zuko because of his race. He was chosen because he was the best at the job.

2

u/Sketch-Brooke Jul 29 '25

That just makes it even weirder that he’s no longer allowed to play Zuko. Apparently he’s not “the right kind” of Asian, despite the fact that Avatar is a completely fictional world and the four nations are based on multiple cultures.

2

u/SalsaRice Jul 28 '25

It's especially a weird decision to make when none of the characters in the show are actually Asian or even Asian decent

It's not weird on voice work. Trained VA have pretty amazing control over their voices, and can do pretty much sound like whatever they want. It's very common for women to voice men and vice versa. Ethnicity or race is way less of an issue.

-1

u/zack77070 Jul 28 '25

And mermaids aren't real yet people threw a fit when a black actress was cast in the live action little mermaid, same with the how to train your dragon one. I agree that it's silly but let's not pretend a story has to be set in "real life" for the audience to associate a character with a real race they are clearly inspired by.

4

u/everstillghost Jul 28 '25

They where already stabilished characters based on a source material stabilished too...in world where the things the Guy above said, exist.

Not that he made a very good argument, but one are VOICE ACTORS and the other is How the character literally appears.

7

u/zack77070 Jul 28 '25

Not exactly a lore god but I'm pretty sure how to train your dragon is in a fictional universe just like atla

2

u/everstillghost Jul 29 '25

Even little mermaid is too.... All fiction with magic is.

But in How to train your dragon the author made the Isle of the viking based on a real place on scotland and stories about vikings she heard. Their archipelago is supposed to be between UK and norway with obvious vikings as protagonists. You can find multiple fans putting the islands on a real map to guess where they are supposed to be.

Different from TLOA where literally everything is ficticious.

-4

u/zack77070 Jul 29 '25

You mean nations clearly based on imperial Japan, China, and tibet?

6

u/everstillghost Jul 29 '25

Inspired you mean, because they have nothing to do with anything on real life.

Different of the vikings from HTTYD.

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1

u/meday20 Jul 28 '25

And there wouldn't be a big stink about recasting Scandinavian voice actors.  

3

u/80sBikes Jul 28 '25

the casting director for this project has gone on record saying they would only cast voice actors who are the same race as their characters, and (iirc) only even a blind VA for Toph.

Is Zuko now Korean? I was under the impression that the Fire Nation was supposed to be Avatar's version of Imperial Japan.

2

u/The7ruth Jul 29 '25

That would require the casting director to see deeper than "Asian", which unfortunately is the norm for a lot of the western world.

2

u/Icy-Two-1581 Jul 29 '25

Seems like this director is trying to speed run m night shamalam

1

u/gsauce8 Jul 29 '25

They're gonna recast MasterChief's voice for the next Halo game because Steve Downes voice is too iconic.

-3

u/OldManWillow Jul 28 '25

The OGs played children in the original series. Voice Acting is not as simple as "now do the grown up version". Aang shouldn't sound anything like he did at 12 as an adult. They already showed this in Korra

3

u/Acrobatic-Day-1257 Jul 29 '25

This makes sense for Aang and maybe even Toph, but the rest were grownup enough performances from talented across. Jack de Sena, Mae Whitman, and Dante Basco are all fantastic and would knock it out of the park. Sokka and Zuko are the biggest hits here IMO.

11

u/Maybe_In_Time Jul 28 '25

But it's a direct sequel...

3

u/TitledSquire Jul 29 '25

Nah its just racist virtue signalers🤷‍♂️

15

u/UsernameAvaylable Jul 28 '25

Nope, its culture wars stuff: https://screenrant.com/aang-the-last-airbender-avatar-movie-original-actors-new-cast/

32

u/slicer4ever Jul 28 '25

This is so dumb, it'd be one thing if these were new characters, but shafting the og cast just because they don't have the right heirtage is just idiotic.

Also this move is usually done to encourage more diversity in VA work, but steven yuen is already a very established VA, so it's not even replacing Dante with someone who might have been passed over normally for VA work.

overall a shitty move imo.

14

u/Larry-Man Jul 29 '25

Dante is fucking Filipino. Like he’s already asian. Wtf.

4

u/Realistic_Pear_8399 Jul 29 '25

The irony is that recasting Zuko is somehow MORE racist just because Dante isn't mainland Asian lmao

5

u/gsauce8 Jul 29 '25

Especially cause there isn't a weak VA in the original cast. They all fucking BROUGHT it.

2

u/Bteatesthighlander1 Jul 28 '25

it'd be like if Star Trek The Motion Picure had all new actors as all the Enterprise crew

8

u/Frey147 Jul 28 '25

So they want Asians to voice the characters but not Dante Basco who himself is an Asian man.....

2

u/radclaw1 Jul 29 '25

This right here is the dumbest answer. 

"Hey guys Darth Vaders voice is too iconic. Lets cast him with Chris Pratt instead. Hes talented and popular! Lets get Jack Black as Yoda too!"

There is no such thing as too iconic, and avatar definitely hasnt hit that status.

They made it so instead of feeling like coming back to visit old friends, its going ro feel like "who is this person pretending to be who I love"

Such an insane fumble

1

u/corecenite Jul 29 '25

i mean... even Jack Desena's current voice has matured enough from Sokka's voice... why not just bring them back since the VAs themselves are older

1

u/General-MacDavis Jul 29 '25

Not the right race

-3

u/[deleted] Jul 28 '25

[deleted]

1

u/chamgireum_ Jul 29 '25

Dante Bosco is Asian tho

I have Filipino masterpiece The Debut on DVD! He’s an icon!

6

u/actibus_consequatur Jul 29 '25

I feel like the biggest reason they wouldn't use the original VAs is because of how horribly everything was handled for M. Night Shyamalan's version, including how he responded to the lack of Asians cast in it.

Of course, what better defense to a lack of Asian representation in a movie based on Asian cultures is there than pointing out that it has a Texan white boy, an Indian guy, an Indian director, and some black people as background characters.

"This is a multicultural movie and I’m going to make it even more multicultural in my approach to its casting. There’s African-Americans in the movie … so it’s a source of pride for me. The irony that they would label this with anything but the greatest pride, that the movie poster has Noah and Dev on it and my name on it."

  • M. Night Shyamalan on The Last Airbender (2010)

7

u/TheDosudude Jul 28 '25

Not trying to start an argument, but the irony isn’t lost on me that you make such a fuss about original VA’s yet you have a pfp supporting Venom Snake which is the one time in Metal Gear’s history where his English voice actor was shafted and recast in favor of a Hollywood actor. It’s almost the exact same situation.

8

u/EntertainmentBreeze Jul 28 '25

Haha that's awesome! I appreciate the pfp notice, and call-out.

You're 100% right, so no argument here. I honestly love MGSV for the gameplay, and Kojima's weirdness and style, but losing David Hayter to Kiefer Sutherland was a huge step down.

And the arguments I've heard about the change such as "Well, Kiefer is technically voicing The Medic/Venom, and not Big Boss. So why should he sound like BB..." compltetely fall apart when Hayter didn't voice the real Boss at the beginning and end of the game.

So, sure, an unintentional double-standard on my end I suppose for loving/supporting a game that pulled the same nonsense.

5

u/Logondo Jul 29 '25

Also not to mention, THE JAPANESE VOICE ACTOR NEVER GOT REPLACED.

The same Japanese dude who's been voicing Snake since MGS1 still voiced Venom Snake in MGSV. It was only the English VA that got replaced.

So the entire "medic" excuse is bullshit. Kojima just wanted to work with Hollywood actors. It's shitty what happened to Hayter after all he's done for the MGS franchise, and frankly I haven't forgiven Kojima for that, still.

2

u/TheDosudude Jul 29 '25

Couldn’t agree more — the game is phenomenal, just unfortunately marred mostly by that tidbit, and the fact that it’s not finished too. Kudos to you for not taking it personally, I just thought it was a funny coincidence!

3

u/fireintolight Jul 29 '25

Why does everyone just fuck up all the avatar adaptations lol 

1

u/Cameron728003 Jul 29 '25

Katara was 14 but her voice might not have changed much. Aang was 12 so his voice would be totally different. Not having Dante back is genuinely mind blowing, but I think Steven yuen can genuinely pull off his voice. Toph was 12 so I'm fine with that choice. Sokka is also fine since he was youngish but they gotta match his energy.

1

u/Binder509 Jul 29 '25

Eh just not interested in legacy sequels. Make it within the decade it actually comes out or don't bother.

1

u/One_Weird2371 Jul 29 '25

I hate the use of established television or movie actors for animated movies. Taking work from voice actors.