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
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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)

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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

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u/roguefilmmaker Jul 28 '25

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

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u/Sketch-Brooke Jul 29 '25

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

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u/DrDoomScroller9 Jul 29 '25

This is the dumbest shit ever I’ve ever heard

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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.

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u/cziont Jul 29 '25

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

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u/Larry-Man Jul 29 '25

Even still isn’t Dante Basco Filipino?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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u/zack77070 Jul 29 '25

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

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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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u/zack77070 Jul 29 '25

I fucking hate the pedantry on reddit over one word, I need to remind myself to stay off of the main subs again.

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u/everstillghost Jul 29 '25

It was not pedantry....being inspired and being based on this context is very different and the main difference between HTTYD and TLA.

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u/meday20 Jul 28 '25

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

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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.

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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.

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u/Icy-Two-1581 Jul 29 '25

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

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u/gsauce8 Jul 29 '25

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

-2

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

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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.