With "10 times the number of sets we had for season 1," the cast and crew discuss how they brought the Ba Sing Se chapter to life.
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| Credit: Netflix |
In early March 2024, the principal stars of
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix’s live-action retelling of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series, gathered over Zoom under uncertain pretenses. A request for a seemingly general meeting about season 2 came “out of the blue, completely random” within weeks of the season 1 premiere, Ian Ousley (boomerang-throwing Sokka) told
Entertainment Weekly.
The show seemed like a success on paper. Based on the publicly shared stats, the show reached 21.2 million views within four days on Netflix, topped the streamer’s English-language TV chart, and broke into the top 10 in 92 countries. Yet, when it came to the prospect of a renewal, “Some people felt confident and some people were really very nervous,” Kiawentiio (waterbending Katara) notes.
“You just never know,” Elizabeth Yu (Fire Nation Princess Azula) adds. “Sometimes a show could be huge and there just isn't a place for it to get to see the story through.”
Ousley, Kiawentiio, and Yu joined the call with Gordon Cormier (Aang), Dallas Liu (Zuko), and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Iroh), with Daniel Dae Kim (Fire Lord Ozai) taking charge of the conversation. It wasn't long before he dropped a bomb: “I’m sorry if this was unexpected, but they are not able to announce a season 2 for our show.”
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| Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Netflix |
The faces of the young stars — who grew up on set making season 2 — said it all. “I'm not hiding it very well,” the star behind the titular Avatar admits of that Zoom call, “but I feel like I was almost so shocked that I was smiling out of a coping mechanism.”
Ousley has one issue with that video in hindsight. “They zoomed in on my face and I'm tearing up. That was [from a different call] when Albert Kim, who was our season 1 showrunner, told us how proud of us he was,” the actor recalls. “When Daniel was like, ‘Season 2’s not happening,’ I was like, ‘Hmm. I don't know if I'm buying this.’”
He had good reason to be suspicious. Seconds later, Kim broke the real news: “They’re not able to announce a season 2 because they would like to
announce season 2 and season 3.”
“[We] group FaceTimed within three minutes of the Zoom finishing,” Cormier recalls. “We all talked for like 45 minutes, all just expressing our joy to get back to it.”
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| Gordon Cormier as Aang, Miyako as Toph in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Katie Yu/Netflix |
The Aang gang officially reassembled later that September, about three years after filming season 1, to shoot both 2 and 3 back-to-back over the course of a calendar year — all to see the full live-action adaptation through to the end.
A significant time jump was built into the season 2 plan to account for the cast’s real-time aging. When Jabbar Raisani, a lead season 2 executive producer, first met Cormier, “He literally went up to my belly button,” he points out, “and now he's taller than me.” Returning to Netflix this June 25, the story picks up when the characters are noticeably older, though Raisani mentions, “We don’t get into how many months it is” after the events of that season 1 finale.
It’s at least clear that a lot happened during that span off screen, including Aang and Katara becoming much more adept at waterbending. Raisani and his EP counterpart, Christine Boylan, used that time jump to solve a time-and-resources problem. “There are so many adventures that exist in the animated series that we couldn't put in the show,” Boylan says. “A lot of it falls in between seasons, and it can happen even in between episodes.”
There’s still plenty of ground to cover, including what transpires in the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Sei and the arrival of fan-favorite Toph (Miyako), the blind earthbender and a crucial member of Team Avatar.
The seat of Earth Kingdom power
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| Gordon Cormier as Aang in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Netflix |
Boylan, promoted from her season 1 position of co-executive producer, says they had two requests heading into the sophomore run: more practical sets and what she calls “Fire Nation succession.”
The impact of the first point is apparent on a gloomy day in late February 2025 on the Vancouver production. Raisani, who also served as a director and visual effects supervisor on season 1, estimates they had “10 times” more sets and locations this time around, while the Volume, an LED-lit stage used for virtual production, was scaled back.
One such set lies in the city’s Flavelle, Port Moody location, where a sprawling makeshift village depicts different boroughs of Ba Sing Se, the next target in Fire Lord Ozai’s mission for global domination. Imagery of Badgermoles and Lion Turtles adorn the nearby roofing as Easter eggs.
It’s the same location where Shōgun, FX’s Emmys-sweeping historical epic, previously set up shop. Boylan acknowledges, “Are we going to look like Shōgun?” became a recurring question, given the Asian influence and medieval time period. To ensure the answer remained no, they went back to the cartoon for inspiration.
“The rules are specifically that the Earth Kingdom is Japan and China, the Fire Nation is Southeast Asia, the Air Nomads are very much Tibet, and then the Water Tribes are First Nations,” production designer Michael Wylie mentions on a stroll through the upper and lower rings of their Ba Sing Se — distinctions established by Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
This cultural fusion — visible through the various food markets, bazaars, and tea shops along the main streets — is reflective of the writers’ launching pad for the season arc, which the executive producers describe as “the immigrant experience.” It came straight from the source material, while the writers’ room also pulled from personal experiences and historical research.
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| Amanda Zhou as Joo Dee, James Sie as Cabbage Man in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. Credit: Katie Yu/Netflix |
As civilians of the surrounding areas become displaced by the Fire Nation, more and more refugees, including Zuko and Iroh, who’ve been living off the grid, make their way to the capital. However, upon arrival, a propaganda machine is in full effect to persuade the Earth King’s subjects that “there is no war in Ba Sing Se” (to quote a familiar phrase from the animated original).
“Underground” (i.e. the indoor stages at the neighboring CMPP Studios in Vancouver) lies a sprawling network of gravelly tunnels illuminated by glowing gems embedded in the walls. These are the Crystal Caves, where Joo Dee (Amanda Zhou), Ba Sing Se’s Cultural Ambassador, is undergoing a reprogramming of sorts. On set, Boylan makes references to Get Out and HBO’s The Sympathizer.
“This is a show about life during war time,” Boylan says. “This is a show about these kids bonding. This is a show about these kids trying to come of age in this world and remake the world in a better way.”
Cormier calls himself "the Half Avatar" at this point, a reference to how Aang now has two elements under his belt but still needs to master earth and fire. “We have this banger first episode where everything comes together and we reintroduce everybody," he says.
Viewers have already seen glimpses of the premiere, which involves Aang and Katara subduing a sea serpent while guiding refugees across a treacherous path. Cormier filmed the sequence atop a surfboard rig in front of blue screen to emulate the Avatar skating across the water’s surface.
“It was on a wire so it would sway, but we’re also trying to move our bodies in the sense that we’re waterbending,” he recalls. “That was quite difficult. Not for Kiawentiio, though. She got it within the span of like 40 minutes of rehearsing.”
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| Kiawentiio and Ian Ousley for 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Lenne Chai/Netflix |
As Katara mentors Aang in waterbending, Kiawentiio did the same for Cormier, who says his costar was “incredible coaching me in between takes.”
Katara is a formidable bender and healer at this stage of the story, and Kiawentiio was eager to adapt a particular arc from the cartoon: the Painted Lady. Katara dresses as this figure from folklore to help immigrants going through tough times.
“I felt so beautiful as the Painted Lady,” she says. “And, sure, the makeup took longer than I had ever been in this chair beforehand, but it was totally worth it. The girls ate it up. I want to shout them out because of how much detail is in the makeup.”
The Painted Lady arc doesn’t come into play until the third season of the animated original, but according to Kiawentiio, the writers tried various ways to adapt this plot point before realizing “it’s not going to be able to fit anywhere else” in their grand plan.
Following the tone of season 2, similar animation-to-live-action remixes are in store again, including with Sokka. “There’s so much weight that gets shifted around,” Ousley acknowledges. “The original animated show is amazing and also very emotionally deep, but it also touches on a lot of very mature topics that translate differently.”
For him, it was important to make sure Sokka wasn’t moving on too quickly from the loss of Princess Yue (Amber Midthunder), his love interest whose spirit returned to the moon in the season 1 finale’s Water Tribe battle. “That was just trying to make sure it didn’t look like he was a playboy, to be honest,” Ousley continues. “When you find him here in season 2, he has gone through something very traumatic where he’s still feeling a lot of responsibility.”
Toph as nails
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| Miyako as Toph in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. Credit: Katie Yu/Netflix |
Another member of Team Aang enters the fold in season 2. On set, it’s easy to point out her home near the Ba Sing Se production. Just look for the Beifong family crest: a winged boar.
Toph Beifong is the daughter of an affluent family outside of the Earth Kingdom city. She’s blind, so her parents treat her like a delicate child, when in reality she’s one of the most proficient earthbenders in the world. In between takes, Ryan Halprin, another EP, plays footage on his laptop of “Toph vision” — what it looks like when the girl uses her bending to see by tapping into the vibrations of the earth.
Batman’s SONAR surveillance system in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight became an inspiration for the visuals. “I really started with Miyako,” Raisani says of developing that element. “It is about how she moves and how she functions as an earthbender.”
The team auditioned a wide swath of performers for the role, including blind, visually impaired, and low-vision actors. According to Boylan, a challenge emerged because “Toph can see, just not in the traditional sense.”
Miyako was someone who auditioned “for a couple parts” on season 1, the actress says, but she surmises she was too young at the age of 13 for any of them. The casting director kept her self-tape on file and, five years later, the Toph role came around. “That was a blessing in disguise,” Miyako says.
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| Gordon Cormier and Miyako for 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Lenne Chai/Netflix |
“She is the blunt truth teller of the group,” Boylan describes the new addition. “She has no shame about pretty much anything, which is the best kind of person to have along with you. She's also a tank.”
Blindness consultant Joe Strechay and his assistant trained with Miyako for six months prior to filming, in addition to attending every stunt rehearsal. The actress wore various contact lenses, some of which restricted her vision, to enhance the look. “My biggest concern was actually portraying a character who's blind or has low vision because I am not and I will never know what that's like,” Miyako says, while acknowledging Strechay’s team “took a lot of pressure off.”
A self-professed “hardcore fan” of the Nickelodeon series with her older brother, the actress describes her first day on set: filming the character's introduction. Aang and friends first witness her in action as “the Blind Bandit,” a participant in the underground “Earth Rumble” fighting tournament facing down the Boulder, a beefy sumo wrestler-type earthbender.
“I felt very nervous,” she remembers of that day. “It was not only Toph’s entrance, but it was mine. I needed to show what I was made of. I needed to show what I was gonna do for the rest of the season, and this sets the tone.”
Heated sibling rivalry
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| Elizabeth Yu and Dallas Liu for 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Lenne Chai/Netflix |
Inside the Crystal Caves stage in summer 2025, the team prepares a different kind of fight scene, one between Zuko and Azula. Liu, with his prior martial arts training, performs a backflip on command to dodge oncoming fire blasts (to be inserted in post). He lands with ease and performs a bending move with his arms, indicating the dispersing of his sister’s blue flames.
Yu, too, appears confident in her element. This time around, she arrives to set with sharp, extended fingernails to emulate that character feature in the animated show. The actress, also known for Todd Haynes' film May December, later comments on that subtle addition in a May 2026 interview.
“I went to Rebecca, who was the head of the makeup department,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Can we try it?! What do you think?’ Because it's so iconic from the animation. They're very claw-like. She was like, ‘If you're down with wearing long nails for a year straight, then yes, we can do it.’”
Discussing their Crystal Caves clash, Liu remembers how “the nail punctured a hole in my hand at one point.”
“I felt terrible,” Yu responds, “but I felt like Azula did her job…. They were a real-life weapon, almost.”
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| Dallas Liu and Gordon Cormier on set of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Katie Yu/Netflix |
The sibling rivalry remains heated throughout season 2 as that idea of “Fire Nation succession” lingers in the characters’ minds. Zuko remains in exile but always with the promise of redemption should he capture the Avatar, while Azula is determined to prove herself as the rightful heir.
It's all about “trying to become dad's favorite" and "trying to play the game in order to try to succeed,” Yu says.
“I love royalty stories, I love sibling rivalries,” Boylan adds. “I am a reader of history, and pulling from different battles and different monarchies and all of those unstable world events was super interesting to inform the Fire Nation side of things.”
To enhance this sibling dynamic, the writers’ gave Zuko and Azula’s mom, who features in a much smaller storyline in the original, an expanded presence in the live-action drama. Lily Gao (Twisted Metal) portrays Ursa, whose memory plagues both of her children in their teenage years.
“The reason they can be so feisty with each other and so hurtful towards each other is because they are family, because they experienced trauma on such a deep level,” Liu explains. “It was only the two of them that know truly what happened. It really adds another layer to this sibling dynamic. It's not just a rivalry. It is an older brother and a younger sister trying to figure out who they are and how to handle healing from this [in] two very, very drastically different ways.”
Liu adds, "Two different ways, two different colors of fire."
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| Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, and Ian Ousley on set of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' season 2. | Credit: Katie Yu/Netflix |
It's a long road ahead for these children of the Fire Nation, and the actors already shot more standout moments coming for the final season. Those include the “Agni Kai” firebender duel, which Liu enthusiastically calls “the coolest thing I've ever done in my life."
Another is the final face-off against Ozai. While on set, an executive producer mentions how they had to preemptively save a chunk of their budget on season 2 “knowing we’re going to need to go all-out.”
"It was huge," Cormier remarks. "Everything about it was big. I don't think we've ever shot a fight sequence as long as that one took. It was probably over the span of two weeks, and I think we went back to it quite a bit...Lots of wires, lots of insane stunts."
The ending of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender is on everyone's minds even while filming season 2 last year. Boylan carries around a giant white binder labeled “season 3” while filming the Crystal Caves episodes. At one point, her assistant runs over to pull her away from the shoot, saying, “Season 3 Netflix meeting in 15 minutes.” Gabe Llanas, a co-executive producer, mentions in between takes, “We’re rewriting season 3 while working on season 2."
Liu and Yu remain deeply grateful and visibly enthused to be able to tell the entirety of the main Avatar story, even if the double-renewal first came with a fake-out.
“While we thought season 1 was good, we knew that we could do better,” Liu says. “Because so much time had passed, we were really ready to prove ourselves as actors. As young indigenous actors, we really wanted to show the world [that] this is an opportunity that has been presented to us that we're not gonna take for granted."
Avatar: The Last Airbender season two streams Thursday, June 25, exclusively on Netflix.
‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Bosses on Cutting Sandbending, ‘The Drill’ Episode and Other Season 2 Changes: ‘There’s Only So Much We Can Fit’
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Season 2 of the live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” now streaming on Netflix.
Netflix’s live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is back for Season 2, following Aang’s (Gordon Cormier) journey to learn earthbending from the young, blind mentor Toph Beifong (Miyako), just as in the second season of the original Nickelodeon show. Like the first series, Aang, Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) travel to the walled city of Ba Sing Se to find an earthbending teacher. They’re pursued by Azula (Elizabeth Yu), princess of the Fire Nation, and her friends Mai (Thalia Tran) and Ty Lee (Momona Tamada). Meanwhile, exiled Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) and his uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung) are on the run and try to blend into the quieter life of the Earth Kingdom.
While there, Aang and his friends discover a massive conspiracy within Ba Sing Se’s government that ignores the war going on outside the city walls. They also learn some critical intel from discovering the desert library of Wan Shi Tong that could defeat the Fire Nation once and for all: The upcoming solar eclipse will prevent all firebending and weaken their heated enemies. As they escape the library, Aang’s sky bison Appa is stolen, which nearly tears the friend group apart.
In the end, Aang’s crew recovers Appa and finds the missing Earth King, who’s unaware of his government’s cover-up of the war. However, Azula intercepts the group and duels Aang and Katara with Zuko, who nearly had a change of heart after opening up to Katara. In the climactic ending, Azula wields lightning and strikes Aang in the chest, which incapacitates him while he’s in the avatar state. Katara, Toph and Sokka escape with Aang and the Earth King, and Katara is able to heal Aang of his nearly fatal wound. They fly away from Ba Sing Se aboard Appa, as Aang faces a long road to recovery and must still learn how to firebend.
Speaking with Variety, showrunner Christine Boylan and executive producer Jabbar Raisani discuss the changes they made from the Nickelodeon show, such as cutting sandbending, adding in Katara’s Painted Lady arc from Season 3 and cutting the action-packed Nickelodeon Season 2 episode, “The Drill.”
I want to start with the season premiere, which takes the “Serpent’s Pass” episode from midway through the original series and kicks off this new season. How did you decide to make that Episode 1 of Season 2?
Christine Boylan: For the writing decision, I got everybody in the room on the first day, and we knew we wanted to deal with the refugee story on some level. It’s such a huge thematic part of the animated series. Everyone in the writers’ room and on the crew is a huge fan. I tried to remind everybody that we are doing an adaptation of a myth and a legend. That means it’s not exactly the same, and it’s never going to be one-to-one. We started to look at scenes and stories that are maybe not done as in-depth in the animation that we could accomplish here and get more emotional, get into the action in a way that maybe an animator can’t and what are some stories that are better done in animation that we wouldn’t want to touch because they’re perfect as it is.
We started out by talking about real-life refugee stuff, like people’s families and backstories. I said to the writers, “If you feel comfortable, tell me about your parents, grandparents, ancestors, when they went from place to place, why they did, how they did, who helped them, what was the hardship and what was the joy in those situations? We got amazing family stories, and we looked at all three seasons and started putting things on the board. We kept Season 3 in mind, even though we didn’t know if we were going to get to shoot Season 2. We definitely didn’t think we were going to shoot Season 3 yet, but we kept all three in mind, no matter what. Then we looked at the character arcs and their growth. Growth is not a straight line. You go up, down, backwards, forward again, you lurch in fits and starts, especially if you’re young. How can we make these growth arcs as interesting and surprising as possible, even to people who know the show?
Jabbar Raisani: The story that we wanted to tell was pretty clear from the season’s scripts, but at a certain point there’s also a little bit of push and pull with production. Because we wanted to physically build so many of these sets, it’s like, “Hey, you can only build X number of sets before you’re gonna not be able to build anymore.” So part of it comes down to — like, the drill tanks.
Boylan: RIP. They exist.
Raisani: We really wanted to do it. The plan is still presented in the world, but it’s one of those things where at the end of the day it came down to we just can’t fit this in. It was in until really late stage, and then we finally had to lift it out.
Boylan: That’s an amazing creative exercise. We took a whole episode about the drill and the way that we did it was a little bit different and then boiled it down to this pitch that Azula gives. I said to Elizabeth, “This is a whole episode. You’re pitching a real strategy. Azula never pitches anything that isn’t absolutely executable.” We know because we executed, so that was great for her. She had all of that to draw on.
Raisani: We try to do that anytime that we lose something. We try as much as we can to just put nods to the animated series, so fans know we wanted it in there too. We’re not just taking things out, like, “Oh, we don’t need this.” At a certain point, there’s only so much that we can fit.
“The Drill” episode was another arc I noticed was missing from the original show. What did that episode look like before you cut it?
Boylan: You want to know the secret about “kill your darlings”? It’s “cannibalize your darlings.” When someone comes up with a cool bit in an episode and you’re not going to do the episode anymore, you take that cool bit and you put it somewhere deep in Season 3. So, there’s a lot of stuff that we put into that episode that starts with Elizabeth’s speech and a whole bunch of stuff with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. That friendship is very important to all of us. Female friendship on screen is very important, whether you are heroes or villains. A lot of the friendship stuff we pulled out of that episode and put into other episodes. We may have lost that bit, but our episode length got longer, so we managed to kind of cannibalize all the bits we love the most. I think the only thing that’s gone is the actual drill. Everything else is still there, whether it landed in Season 2 or Season 3. We found our favorite bits, jokes, all that stuff and pulled everything we could.
“The Painted Lady” was another arc from the original show’s third season that you moved into this Season 2. Why did you give Katara that storyline now?
Boylan: One of the first things I pitched was real locations, real sets, let’s get out in the world, I definitely want to do a Fire Nation succession story and “Painted Lady” makes much more sense in Season 2 because Katara is kind of done teaching Aang. So, what’s Katara doing? It was really important to me. One of her major drives is this need for justice. It’s something that I relate to really personally, and a lot of the writers did as well. We thought, “Let’s do this kind of like — a movie that some of them had never seen before — ‘Batman Returns.'” There are people in this city that need her help. We are not going to be traveling as much as the animated series can travel, so let’s show the disparity between the lower, middle and upper rings. She’s going to notice who is not getting taken care of before anybody else notices that. She’s used to doing stuff right out in the open, so for her to even try and hide herself — I’m really into shadow stories.
Shadows are not necessarily a negative part of our ourselves. A shadow is just another part of ourselves that maybe we’re not ready to show other people yet. And shadow integration stories; Zuko has that story with the Blue Spirit. Aang has that story. He is Aang, an air nomad, and he is also the avatar. He has to integrate all of those parts of himself over three seasons, so each of them gets sort of a mini arc. Toph has to integrate being a Beifong with being this rough, tough earthbender who is the blind bandit. Everyone’s got a shadow side. It’s just that Katara is a little more overt because she gets to put on makeup and dress up. So let’s put it here where she can do the most good and she didn’t have a natural arc, so we played that arc and wove it in with everybody else’s.
Raisani: When you have to do two seasons at the same time, one of the benefits is you can see how it can slot into Season 2 and the space that makes for Season 3. Because we knew where Season 3 was going to go, that allowed more space in Season 2.
Boylan: Katara’s got a big arc in Season 3.
There isn’t any sandbending or swampbending in this season either. Was there ever a point where you were going to show these other forms of bending?
Raisani: A part of it comes down to what we can fit in the season, and we just had to make certain choices. When we look at something like sandbending, there are probably some opportunities we could have integrated it into the story, but then we have a whole other kind of bending we have to R&D and execute. It starts to open up the spend down this path. If we’re trying to tell the most distilled version of the story that we can afford, which we wanted to be really, really powerful, we have to concentrate on those stories that are really at the heart and core of the overall story we’re going to tell.
Boylan: It comes back to cannibalizing it, though, because once we figured out we couldn’t do that, we went back to the character of Ba Sing Se. How does this inform the character of the city? These are all earthbenders. They expand the walls of the city as people join. The city and rings need to get bigger. They’ve taken over the land around it. Who’s to say what was there before Ba Sing Se expanded? We look to history a lot on this show. I like to think of it as a historical fantasy. So we looked at history and how cities would expand and make their walls higher. So not being able to do sandbending meant that we could tell more of the story of Ba Sing Se and make it more of a character.
If the CGI and special effects hadn’t shot the budget up, what would you have put in the show?
Boylan: Part of the creativity is you write to fit what you’ve got, no matter what. And then the game you play with yourself is how can we be as creative as possible within those boundaries?
Raisani: If you asked, “Would you do one or two more episodes?” Yeah, definitely, to tell a little bit more story. Let’s do some of the things that we couldn’t fit in and had a hard time cutting. We hated cutting stuff, like Bosco [the Earth King’s bear]. There is this painting of Bosco and we had a long series of jokes, and at the end of the day we’re like, “We can’t even put in the jokes.” The painting is great, because fans know that we are fans and we wanted to have that connection and hang on this painting for way too long. It’s a nice nod to the folks that feel passionate about those moments. It’s hard. Unless you can do it all and do it right, it’s weird to do a middle ground. We even did, “Is it a playpus bear, is it this bear?” It was too much to not have the actual bear, and you needed Bosco to do that whole run.
Boylan: Bosco was in there for a long time. There are a lot of creatures that are on the [cutting room] floor, a lot of joke runs, a lot of serious stuff. We try to keep the right balance.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender EP Was Surprised That One Major Season 2 Change Was Approved: 'I Thought It Was Too Much'
Now streaming on Netflix, the second season of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" introduces Miyako Cech as Toph Beifong, a small-but-mighty warrior whose Earthbending skills and blunt honesty made her a fan-favorite character in the original animated series. Like many characters in this live-action adaptation, some aspects of Toph's life have been expanded upon, including one that co-showrunner Christine Boylan initially assumed would be a step too far.
Toph's parents, Lao and Poppy Beifong, appear in just one episode of the original Nickelodeon animated series, where they're portrayed as overprotective, overbearing, and toxic. That much remains true, but Netflix's retelling takes it one step further, giving viewers a clearer look at the Beifongs' true ruthlessness.
In the second season finale, Lady Beifong reunites with Toph over tea, confessing the insecurities that inspire her questionable parenting. Toph's mother says she sees herself as the fragile one, not Toph. In fact, she's in awe of her daughter's strength and grace. Once again asking Toph to return home, she promises, "Things will be different." And for a moment, Toph allows herself to believe it's true. Unfortunately, it all turns out to be an emotionally manipulative ruse — Lady Beifong has drugged Toph's tea, which Toph realizes just as she loses consciousness.
"I remember pitching that scene, and I thought it was too much," Boylan tells TVLine. "But everybody was like, 'Yeah, absolutely.' And I was like, 'Wow, OK. I guess we're doing this.'"
Exploring the Beifongs more fully was a fun experience for Boylan, who says she looks at "Avatar: The Last Airbender" as historical fantasy. "Reading the Kiyoshi books, the Beifongs go so far back," she says. "They're such old money, and they're making quite a bit of money off all sides of the war. Toph has to get her distance from them to figure out who she is and what side she's on. We looked at a lot of historical examples of families like this that were even more ruthless. It gave us a lot of stuff to play with."
"We kept giving Lady Beifong opportunities to make the right choice, but it's fun to see her continue to make bad choices when it comes to her relationship with her daughter," adds co-showrunner Jabbar Raisani.
Toph is a key member of Team Avatar, and her arrival in the show's second season completely changes the dynamic of the group, something the co-showrunners couldn't wait to play out in live-action.
"She comes in and disrupts the gang just when they've hit a sort of stasis," Christine Boylan tells TVLine. "The three of them have found stability, and she comes in and completely blows that up. She comes in just when they need her the most, but I think what's often missed is that they also come into her life when Toph needs them the most. It's a two-way street. That was very important to get right."
Another key aspect of Toph's personality that the co-showrunners wanted to capture is her sense of humor, which brings some much-needed levity to an otherwise heavy season.
"Having the blunt truth-teller in the group is always great for comedy," Boylan says. "You could have her say anything. And our blindness consultant pushed us to joke more than we were going to," she explains, referring to moments like when Katara says, "See, Toph?" to which Toph replies, "No, I don't," forcing Katara to awkwardly walk her statement back. It's an exchange that amuses Toph quite a bit.
Adds Jabbar Raisani, "[The consultant] was like, 'Hey, we use those terms all the time.' Like you say, 'Hey, did you watch that show?' We were scared to say or do the wrong thing, but he was like, 'Don't be. This is absolutely how we talk. Embrace it and lean into it, because you're going to find a lot of humor in that.' The blind community loves Toph because she's so blunt and she's not afraid to say things."
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I'm So Happy Avatar: The Last Airbender's Actors Fought To Bring One Iconic Sokka And Katara Scene To Live Action
As someone who grew up with Avatar: The Last Airbender and rewatched it many times, there are so many moments from the animated series that I wanted to see in live-action. Thankfully, Season 2 delivered quite a few of those, including a few silly scenes that are utterly irresistible. Actually, one of those funnier instances made it into Netflix’s adaptation in a more accurate way because the two actors who play Sokka and Katara fought for it.
Now, the moment I’m referring to is when Katara spooks a couple of guys, and Sokka proudly says “Water Tribe” as they leave in a cool way. I’ve always adored that scene between the siblings, and I was stoked when it found its way into the show on Netflix’s 2026 schedule. During an interview with CinemaBlend, Ian Ousley, who plays Sokka, told me that he and Kiawentiio, who plays Katara, fought to do it accurately too:
Me and Kiawentiio actually got to work on the ‘Water Tribe’ thing like a lot. And we loved that moment in the original animated series, and [we] ended up actually like talking to our writers and showrunners and asking for it to be in a slightly different place. It was supposed to actually be in the Earth Rumble, that’s where they had placed it originally.
So, in the live-action adaptation’s second episode (you can stream it with a Netflix subscription), Aang, Katara and Sokka are exploring a new town and trying to get information. Before they go to the Earth Rumble, Katara said she got some info out of people, and her brother jokes that she probably did it with waterbending. We then see Katara making an “I’m watching you” motion at two people she froze together. When Sokka sees them, he proudly says “Water Tribe” while making the motion [... .]
That moment is ripped straight out of the original show. In the sixth episode of the animated series’ second season (which you can stream on Netflix or with a Paramount+ subscription), Katara uses the same method to get information out of two boys. Later in the episode, the gang goes to talk to the guys again, and as they’re ending the conversation, Katara says, “I’ve got my eye on you” and makes the “I’m watching you” hand motion. Then Sokka says “Water Tribe” [... .]
As you can see, the two versions of this scene are very similar, and both highlight Katara’s strength and Sokka’s humor. It’s also just fun to do the “Water Tribe” thing with him. So, overall, I’m so happy Kiawentiio and Ousley fought to do the scene this way. Explaining how exactly they fought for it, the actors said:
- Kiawentiio: Yeah, and we filmed it both ways, and fought really hard to be able to capture it in a more of the original blocking.
- Ian Ousley: Yeah, like a closer adaptation to the original animated series.
- Kiawentiio: Yeah, and that's the one that ended up working best. So, it was really fun when we got to see that.
Along with seeing intense and sad Avatar moments come to life in live-action, I adore that the funnier lines and sequences made it in, too. I especially adore that the cast fought for them, because it proves just how much they care for and love the source material.
Now, to see this moment (and many others) in live-action, you can stream Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix.
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Following divisive reviews, Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 is suffering a 59% drop in ratings from season 1
Far fewer Netflix users tuned into the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender
It seems as though fantasy fans are just not feeling the second season of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender, as ratings reveal that less than half the number of viewers who tuned into season 1 have returned for season 2.
According to Tudum, Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2, which hit Netflix on June 25, was viewed 8.7 million times over its first four days on the platform. That's a huge drop from season 1, which hit the streamer in 2024 with 21.2 million views, meaning the new installment is down by 59%.
The season sits in second place on Netflix's top 10 list of most popular English-language shows right now, and in third place is the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which amassed 3 million views in the same week season 2 hit the streamer. Both seasons of Avatar sit behind the new Harlan Coben series I Will Find You, which earned 34.1 million views in its first full week on the site before hitting 24 million views in four days the same week as Avatar season 2.
It is not clear why the live-action Avatar show has seen a dip in viewership, as even though the sophomore season debuted to divisive reviews, that isn't really much of a change from season 1. In fact, Avatar season 2 sits at a 67% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is actually a slight improvement from season 1, which stands at 62%.
In our Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 review, we call the new installment "better in basically every way to its first season," however, "it struggles under the weight of adapting the events of its animated counterpart" and "fumbles in ways that make its future concerning." That being said, Avatar: The Last Airbender season 3 is on the way and has already been filmed. Season 3 will mark the end of the live-action adaptation.
Following their bittersweet victory in saving the Northern Water Tribe from the Fire Nation, season 2 follows Avatar Aang, Katara, and Sokka as they set off to convince the Earth King to help them fight the Fire Lord Ozai. However, their journey leads them to series newcomer Toph (Miyako), whose skill in earthbending aids their quest.
Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 is available to watch on Netflix now. For more, check out our guide ot the best shows on Netflix, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.
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Avatar: The Last Airbender Showrunner Explains How the Netflix Show Adapted the Biggest Season 2 Moments From the Original Series
There is no Netflix in Ba Sing Se.
Warning: Spoilers follow for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2.
It’s time to climb aboard your flying bison, Avatar fans, because Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is now streaming. The live-action adaptation of the widely beloved cartoon series continues the journey of Aang and his friends as he seeks to master the four elements, with this second season a condensed take on the original’s Book Two: Earth in the same way Season 1 adapted Book One: Water.
Fans of the original Nickelodeon show know that Book Two featured Aang searching for an earthbending teacher, the debut of new ally Toph Beifong (who would become a card-carrying member of Team Avatar), the main characters traveling to the walled-off Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se, and the rising importance of the villainous Princess Azula, sister of Prince Zuko.
Season 2 of the Netflix series tackles all of these elements but makes adjustments to many of the details. At least for IGN’s Rafael Motamayor, the new season is an improvement on the previous one; in his 8/10 review, he said that Season 2 “finds a good balance between lighter fun moments and a darker and more mature story.” To learn more about how Season 2 came together and why certain creative choices were made, IGN spoke to showrunner Christine Boylan, who took up those duties after Season 1 showrunner Albert Kim stepped down (Boylan was an executive producer on Season 1). Spoilers ahead, but let’s get into it!
Finding the Right Tone
One of the reasons the original show is so acclaimed is because of how deftly it balances moments of heart and humor with the mature and sometimes very bleak world being presented, and all while staying appropriate for young viewers. When asked about how the creators approached Season 2’s tone, Boylan said, “I feel pretty confident about the balance. We even try to bring some light into the Fire Nation side, and some dark into our heroes' side, and I think that juxtaposition really helps.”
She elaborated by saying, “We wanted to play the truth. These are real people, and this is a war. The entire world is being colonized, and you want to play the truth of that. But at the same time, these are young people: teenagers and young adults. They're going to find things funny; they're going to make jokes in the face of terrible things. I think that's hugely relatable right now… our actors have done such a beautiful job seeing that and making it better than what we give them. Mai is pretty funny. Azula is hilarious, often on purpose. They're all pretty funny, I'd say — except for Ozai.” Probably a good exception to the rule!
Adaptational Choices
Given how popular the original show is, any adaptation of Avatar would be fighting an uphill battle; no matter what choices you make, you’re going to alter or remove something that someone out there considers critical to their vision of the story. Boylan seems keenly aware of this and explained her strategy, saying that “my theory and practice of adapting anything, especially a large mythos and a large world, is that it should never be one-to-one. I always say: If you hear The Iliad, read The Song of Achilles, and watch Troy, those are all the same story told [in] completely different ways. Ours isn't completely different, but we take our cue from the animated series. We know we could never replace it, and we'd never try.”
We prodded Boylan about changes made to the next season, which will adapt Book Three: Fire. While we can’t share many details about that, she did state her philosophy regarding adaptation: “If we can't do it justice or make it better, don't do it.” Your mileage may vary on how well the Netflix show lives up to that principle — Season 2’s take on Appa’s kidnapping stands out as oddly handled, for example — but it’s an admirable goal all the same.
"We take our cue from the animated series. We know we could never replace it, and we'd never try."
Another notable choice is incorporating material from the expanded universe that came after the original show’s release. Boylan confirmed that there were “little nods to the world of the animated series and the books. The books are really influential to us, because we want the world to feel the depth and breadth of everything that came after. Korra came after, the novels came after — Bryan [Konietzko] and Mike [DiMartino], and all the writers who worked on the other properties, have expanded the world in such a beautiful way, and we try to bring all of that in. Humor comes from it, drama comes from it, [and] the way we portray the other Avatars comes from it.”
Touching on Toph
Among the biggest additions in Season 2 is Toph Beifong, played in the Netflix show by Miya Cech, also known mononymously as Miyako. The blind earthbending prodigy has long been a fan favorite for her mastery of her powers, abrasive personality, and steadfast loyalty to Team Avatar, so finding the right actress for the character was crucial.
Boylan discussed Miyako’s audition and how she knew immediately that they’d found their Toph: “What Miya brought to the role is exactly the thing we'd written, which is that Toph needs to be grounded. It sounds silly and basic — she's an earthbender, she needs to be grounded — but Toph is grounded in a way nobody else is. She learned from the badger moles; she's the epitome, the platonic ideal, of the grounded earthbender. I come from theater, so I'm very picky and annoying, and as soon as I saw Miya — she's a full-body actor. When she came in, she wasn't only delivering the jokes with that hilarious, biting cadence and that whole ‘I don't care what anybody thinks about me’ attitude, which you absolutely need. She was fully moving, even before she'd learned any of the bending moves.”
An aspect of Toph many fans were nervous wouldn’t be included was her tendency to make jokes about her own blindness. Boylan explained how they kept that trait intact: “We have an amazing blindness consultant, Joe Strechay, who's wonderful, and his assistant Keira is amazing too. Joe works on Daredevil, and I come from that Daredevil-Punisher universe as well, so we have a lot of the same people in common. Joe came over and said, ‘Listen, we are making blind jokes. Don't be afraid.’ He gave the writers and me permission to just embody it. He taught us so much about the blind community and how to honor that experience while not taking it too seriously.”
We also get more of Toph’s background with her parents depicted in the Netflix show, something Boylan felt strongly about: “I think the Beifongs have a bit more presence in our series; we wanted to show where people came from. We got to see the Air Nomads before the genocide, so we get to see parents a bit more. We got to see more of Omashu, more of Wolf Cove, more of the Northern Water Tribe, Kyoshi Island — all these places. Seeing Toph with the Beifongs and how she has to mask, hide herself, make herself small and ‘less than’ in real life... watching the contrast between how she hides herself with her parents and how she is at Earth Rumble and then watching her bring those two personalities together once she starts to trust the group is really beautiful.”
Developing Zuko and the Fire Nation
When it comes to subplots from the original show, Prince Zuko’s redemption arc stands as one of the most universally lauded. The way he goes from antagonist to Aang and his friends to fighting against his father’s imperial rule is among the show’s most carefully considered threads, and Boylan knew the new series needed to honor that. For her part, she has nothing but praise for Zuko actor Dallas Liu: “It helps that Dallas is so gifted, and it helps even more that he's so hardworking and that he cares. He cares about the character in the animated series, and about the character we're all creating with him and that he's really holding in this show. So we're incredibly lucky to have him.”
To develop Zuko properly, Boylan put a lot of emphasis on the culture of the Fire Nation and the way their customs inform his characterization. “The first thing we talked about when we got into pre-production was Zuko's hair story [and] why hair is important in the Fire Nation. Something really important to me and a lot of the writers is the culture of each nation, and the fact that each nation isn't necessarily a monolith... bringing it all back to Zuko's arc: We talked not just about how Dallas can pull off any hairstyle and look great — he can, it's wonderful — but about the idea that you grow your hair out when you're victorious, you cut it when you've suffered a loss or lost to an opponent, you shave your head when you've been shamed, and you lose the topknot when it's all over. There's a great bit about this in one of the Kyoshi novels that helped us flesh out some of that story.”
Boylan also elaborated on how in-universe storytelling affects the cultures the characters come from, which is especially important for the Fire Nation because of how it operates as a colonizing force within the Avatar world. “The Fire Nation in the animated series is rich in theater, storytelling, parables, and proverbs, and we drew on all of it. We looked at how Aang and Zuko were brought up, and how that resonates in the choices they're making now. They each use stories as touchstones, and how they use those stories to justify what they're doing was interesting to all of us. The Blue Spirit is a story — and here's a spoiler, ready? — that Zuko's mom told him. It's a Fire Nation legend that was taken from another kingdom, from a Water Tribe spirit, and it was first seen on the stage. So we did a little stage bit using a lot of kabuki, bunraku, and Vietnamese water puppet theater, and brought all of that into the Fire Nation, because they can afford to have the arts.”
What did you think of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2? Let us know in the comments!
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Dallas Liu Embraces His Destiny
After an angsty return in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix’s Prince Zuko is ready to ascend.
Dallas Liu is at the crossroads of his own destiny. After six years in the head of Prince Zuko, the exiled prince — and ostensible fan favorite — of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender remake, the 24-year-old actor has the world at his feet.
Playing Zuko is the culmination of a childhood dream. Like countless zillennials, Liu grew up watching the original Avatar on Nickelodeon. Zuko imprinted on him hard as a child: the character is the very reason Liu practiced martial arts at an early age. Growing up just at the edge of Los Angeles with his father as his sparring coach and his mom critiquing his exhibition clips, Liu was building a foundation for the combat-heavy roles he’s now synonymous with.
“You create these imaginary scenarios in your head as a kid playing basketball and stuff,” Liu tells Inverse over Zoom. “I was like, I would be a firebending Avatar. I would essentially be Roku.”
He didn’t quite reach that goal, but inarguably got something better when he won the role of Zuko. Taking the torch from Dante Basco (whose voice performance went a long way in making the character so iconic) and Dev Patel — the rare bright spot in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 Avatar — was a daunting hurdle during Season 1. When he returned to film the second and third seasons of Avatar back-to-back, the same passion that fueled him as a child informed his growing confidence.
“There was a lot of freedom in doing Seasons 2 and 3 because it’s never been [adapted] before,” Liu continues. “I was just excited to be given the opportunity to play, because those are my favorite parts of Zuko.”
His enthusiasm is infectious: it’s the second season of the original Avatar that turned Zuko from a mopey antagonist blindly chasing the Avatar into, in Liu’s words, “one of the greatest characters in animated history.” It’s in Season 2 that Zuko’s redemption truly begins. After trying and failing to capture Avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier) at the end of Season 1, Zuko and his benevolent uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) renounce their ties to the Fire Nation, drifting through the Earth Kingdom in exile.
“It’s because of Season 2 that Zuko is remembered as one of the greatest characters in animated history.”
With his original mission in ruins, Zuko is forced to reckon with the past traumas he’s spent years running from, answering questions he never thought he’d have to face. Who is he aside from his loyalty to his father, the evil Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim)? What does he want out of life, besides the restoration of his honor? And can he rock a buzzcut? (Not really, which is why you don’t actually see it in Netflix’s remake — though Liu did fight to bring the unfortunate haircut into live-action: “Continuity-wise, it was going to be giving our hair team absolute hell.”)
On a far less dramatic level, Liu is grappling with a similar question. Filming for Avatar’s third and final season wrapped in 2025, which leaves Liu relatively free to explore new horizons. Lengthy as his wish list for dream roles remains, it’s hard to say goodbye to the character who started it all. As the dust settles on Avatar Season 2, Liu sits down with Inverse to unpack its devastating finale, the music that helps him get into Zuko’s head, and the cut storylines he hoped to explore.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Despite Zuko’s daunting legacy, Liu found opportunities to “play” with the role in Season 2.JJ Geiger
When we spoke at the premiere, you mentioned that things have been less terrifying this time around. When you were filming Season 1, were you thinking about the pressure of taking on this character?
A little bit... Well, I shouldn’t say a little bit. A lot, because Season 1 is the one that’s been done before. So not only are we having to measure up to the cartoon [which] is so beloved, then you have another project that came out that isn’t so beloved. But there are parts of it — like Dev Patel, for example — that I thought were great. For me, playing Zuko, I felt all the pressure because I was like, Damn, Dev Patel?
First Dante Basco, then Dev Patel…
Yeah, dang. It’s just one after another. But Paul Sun-Hyung Lee made that Season 1 experience really, really special for me… I feel like I developed so much as an actor and a human being. I knew what to expect coming into it this time, and I knew what I was going to hold onto artistically and what I was going to be able to just let happen on the day. There was a lot of freedom in doing Seasons 2 and 3 because it’s never been [adapted] before. I was just excited to be given the opportunity to play, because those are my favorite parts of Zuko. It’s because of Season 2 and Season 3 that Zuko is remembered as one of the greatest characters in animated history.
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Dallas Liu behind the scenes of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Liu credits Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as a lifeline during Avatar’s first season.Netflix
Talk to me about your relationship to the show before you were cast. What did Zuko mean to you back then? Did you watch the show when you were younger?
Gosh, yes, of course. I grew up on Avatar: The Last Airbender, like many of the cast. Zuko was a big reason why I got invested into martial arts so heavily. I was in love with firebending, [and] as you grow up with these characters, they inspire you so much as a kid. And then you tap back into it in [lockdown] like everyone else does. And then you’re like, “Oh, this is so much more than I ever thought it was.”
What martial arts did you study, and how do you think it prepared you to play Zuko?
I did Japanese Shotokan, which is a style of karate. I started when I was 5 years old. And then I continued it up until I was around the ages of 13 to 14. And it’s been helpful for every single martial arts role. When you’ve been doing it for that long, you develop a very high level of body coordination to the point where it’s similar to dance, where you can watch and understand how someone else is moving. In terms of Zuko’s style of firebending, I felt like that was very specific to me personally. Even though it is based on Northern Shaolin Kung Fu and all these other fast-paced martial arts styles, I got to imbue a little bit of [myself] when I was 12, competing at karate tournaments.
“This character literally means everything to me... Every character moving forward, I’m looking for Zuko.”
Did you have a Zuko playlist?
Yeah, definitely had a Zuko playlist. Season 1, I had a lot of Elliott Smith on it, but Season 2, the turmoil was so strong that I had a ton of Radiohead playing. For this season, it was In Rainbows. Some of those songs make you want to do that classic anime shirt-rip-and-scream.
After two seasons — well, actually three, since you wrapped filming Season 3 — do you feel like you have an even better understanding of who Zuko is?
Yeah. I mean, so much so that I want to keep playing him now into, hopefully, completely uncharted territory. A Book Four or even a Blue Spirit story I think would be really cool. If you’ve watched the cartoon, Zuko becomes Fire Lord. But I think it’d be cool if we did a story about Zuko trying to help his mother or find his mom while also helping Azula, rekindling that relationship.
Adapting the comics?
Yeah, yeah. I’d love to play Zuko in something that hasn’t been created before, as well. This character literally means everything to me. It’s like a relationship. Every character moving forward, I’m looking for Zuko.
Was there anything you wish had made it into this season?
There was a few things that I wanted to do. When Zuko’s screaming at the sky, that was such a huge moment for me, rewatching it. And then I was also hoping to get to save Appa and have that conversation with Iroh… the one where he takes off the Blue Spirit mask and then he drops it in the water. I always thought that was a chef’s-kiss scene.
It sounds like you had a lot of fun playing the Blue Spirit.
Yes! Oh my gosh, it was so much fun. The Blue Spirit is like, I mean, it’s like being Batman. He’s totally a superhero, but he’s also revealing his true self through the mask because nobody knows his identity. He doesn’t have to worry about the Fire Nation, [and] he forgets about his past when he throws the mask on and is only striving to do the right thing. The energy that radiates from the Blue Spirit in a lot of those scenes, especially when he is about to capture Aang, was some of the most fun work I got to do. Even though it might feel like a simple scene where the Blue Spirit walks up, looks at [Aang], and chooses not to take his life, to me, there is more work put into those scenes than maybe some of the more emotional scenes that you see later on in the episode or in the season.
If Avatar continued with more seasons, Liu would love to explore more of the Blue Spirit.Netflix
Zuko and Azula have this confrontation in the finale where Azula actually kind of apologizes and confides in him. It forces Zuko to confront what he wants in a different way, a little like the conversation he has with Iroh in the original show.
Right after the freaking conversation with Katara that was already gut-wrenching for him. And then Azula’s like, “Oh, there’s an open wound. Check this out!” [Makes stabbing motion.]
It’s crazy, when we shot that scene, I was fighting tears so much that once they yelled “cut,” we went to our green room to just hang out and I just... I was bawling. It was so painful… As much turmoil as Zuko is going through for the entirety of Season 2, it feels like that moment is the one that freezes him up the most. Typically, he’ll get caught in something and then he’ll bounce. He’s very impulsive. He gets to have a conversation with Katara and then a conversation with Azula, but that’s the one conversation where he just says nothing... It makes him revert. It was so powerful because Lizzie and I had, at that point, built such a strong friendship that, on the day, it was just like... It was seamless. The chemistry was insane.
“The Blue Spirit is like... being Batman.”
There’s a really robust fan-fiction community surrounding Avatar. You’ve mentioned before that your friends have sent you thirst edits; I’m curious if you’ve ever been sent Zuko fanfic.
I actually haven’t. I don’t have friends that are in the world of fanfic, but I’m sure that there are plenty just because of the different sections of the Avatar fandom. I’m sure there’s different ships and things like that. I’m all for Zuko and Sokka, though.
Do you have a similar bromance with Ian Ousley in real life? You guys were matching at the premiere.
I know. You know how often that happens? The next day, we went to Disneyland, and he and I were wearing the same shirt. We were wearing the same black jeans. We were wearing the same On Cloud running shoes — same size. And then we’re like, “No way we’re wearing the same boxers…” They were both striped boxers. I kid you not. [Laughs.] But yeah, he’s like a real-life brother to me.
Dallas Liu and Elizabeth Yu in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Zuko and Azula’s confrontation in the Season 2 finale was “gut-wrenching” to film.Netflix
What is next on your wish list of roles? I’ve seen a lot of people saying they want to see you play Swordmaster in the MCU.
Oh, I could get down with that. But if I did it, I would want it to be… I think Marvel is chill. They’ve got a very specific style to their movies and maybe the way it’s edited — the color, the comedy and things like that. [But] I would love for it to feel like a separate kind of world, sort of like The Batman with Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson. I think that would be just a nice little refresher for Marvel, I think, especially with Swordmaster, a newer kind of hero. But I would also love to do just straight-up Iron Fist. I would love to do The Ronin from the Star Wars: Visions episode.
Are you a Star Wars fan?
I’m getting into it because of that. I didn’t grow up on Star Wars, really… I watched some of the movies when I was a kid, [and] Darth Maul is a huge reason that I chose to use the bo staff as my primary weapon in martial arts. This summer it’s on my list to do the whole [franchise]… Because believe it or not, our showrunner, Christine Boylan, before we came into Season 2, she was like, “I want you guys to do some homework and watch Andor Season 1.” I watched it and I was like, "I love Star Wars. This is amazing."
That and Visions really took off. I think people want to see that Asian influence in Star Wars more, since George Lucas was so inspired by it.
Right. Manny Jacinto in The Acolyte was sick. He’s sick and he’s hot — what more could you ask for? I would love to do something like that… Another dream would be to do Princess Mononoke… [and] I’d love to work with the great directors of today: Denis [Villeneuve], Robert Eggers… there’s just so much intensity in his movies, which is something that I didn’t realize I loved doing in playing Zuko. So to do that with a director like him or Guillermo del Toro, who is another awesome director, Safdie Brothers — just everyone that’s making cool movies right now, I’d love to work with, which is everyone’s dream.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix.
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Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Star Dallas Liu Is Burning Up
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender star Dallas Liu knows fans are furious with his character, Zuko, after the events of Season 2.
At the end of Season 2, which premiered on June 25, Zuko has renounced his heinous ways of the Fire Nation, opting to live a peaceful – but also masked superhero – life in the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se. In the finale, Zuko and Katara (Kiawentiio) share a heart-to-heart about their loss and heartbreak at the hands of the Fire Nation. Zuko seems to have redeemed himself until he makes up with his villainous sister, Azula (Elizabeth Yu), and betrays Katara and her friends – Aang (Gordon Cormier) and Sokka (Ian Ousley). It is one of the biggest – and most heartbreaking – twists for viewers who had seen Zuko’s character growth be thrown away at the last second.
The 24-year-old actor actually enjoys watching fans' reactions to the twist because it shows that he’s doing a good job portraying this young, misguided character.
“That’s exactly how Zuko’s story is supposed to go,” Liu says over Zoom from his home in Los Angeles. “He’s flip-flopping and trying to figure out who he wants to be this season. He’ll do something bad, then do something good – and he’s torn. That’s a great representation of where his mind is at. It might not necessarily be spot-on with the cartoon, but it is, in my opinion, interesting to be confused as an audience member.”
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| Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender | Netflix |
The live-action Netflix series, based on the beloved, popular, and award-winning Nickelodeon animated series, was first greenlit in 2018 and filmed from late 2021 to mid-2022. Liu, who was 20 when filming began, had to wait three years until the first season premiered. When it finally dropped in 2024, the series was a massive success, drawing in 21.2 million views in its first four days and hitting the Top 10 shows in 92 countries/regions. Liu was praised for his role as Zuko, the disgraced, vengeful prince of the Fire Nation, whose goal of securing the right-hand man position next to his father, the Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim), was to capture and kill the Avatar Aang.
When it was confirmed there would be a second and third season of the show, Liu felt the pressure going into filming, which began in October 2024 and ended in November 2025. There has never been a live-action version of the animated series beyond Season 1, so Liu would be the live-action blueprint for Zuko’s journey for those seasons. He also feels that those two seasons were the best of the animated series, especially for Zuko.
“That’s where it all happens for him,” Liu explains. “That’s where he gained the title of one of the best characters and best redemption arcs in animation history.”
He adds that he also felt the pressure because he was not satisfied with his performance for Season 1, which is shocking to hear, because it was three years later that he got to see and relive it. He began to question whether he had made the right decisions in certain scenes and to avoid social media and reviews, despite receiving applause and recognition for his acting. The team at Netflix had to tell him how much audiences liked Liu’s portrayal of the character.
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“Coming into Season 2, there was more pressure to just be the better version of myself,” he admits. “It was really hard for me to grasp [the compliments] because what I was seeing, I was not pleased with. I wanted to be better, and I was hard on myself as I came into the season.”
He put the pressure on himself to be a better actor, taking on an acting coach and working closely with the on-set coach for his scenes. He looked back on Season 1, documenting the strengths he wanted to bring into Season 2 and what he wanted to leave out, and changing the approach for the role. He worked hard to bring the best acting he could for the character. He admits that he’s his own “worst critic.”
“Just because I love the character of Zuko so much,” He emphasizes. “He’s an extremely well-written character in both the animated series and live-action. To play Zuko is a big responsibility. There will always be pressure there, no matter what. The pressure this time for this season was that everyone loves Zuko, and so do I.”
Liu did a lot of “homework” to prep for the next season. Besides significantly increasing his martial arts discipline and training, he had begun watching more TV and film to find inspiration from others' performances that fit Zuko. He also watched great analyses of Zuko’s character arc for each season of the animated series and applied them to the live-action series. Even on his days off, he would be studying Zuko and what made people love and hate him. He started seeing parallels between his own life and Zuko’s, especially the isolation they used to better themselves.
“If I wasn’t in school doing homework, I was doing martial arts – and it’s one of those sports that is very isolated,” Liu, who has a black belt in Shotokan karate, reflects. “You are your own opponent. You are your toughest opponent. That’s what it was. For Seasons 2 and 3, I thought about how I could be better than the version of myself yesterday, not just as an actor but as a human being. How can I be better? It became an obsession to better my craft every single day, trying to learn something new.”
He says isolating himself was not intentional. He laughs at the suggestion of method acting. He replies, “It was not intentional. It was purely my own personal battle happening in real life.”
For his role, Liu took inspiration from many of the actors he looked up to, including Jeremy Allen White, Austin Butler, and Robert Pattinson. He watched White’s intense performance in FX’s The Bear, complimenting the actor’s ability to showcase his anger and vulnerability while also trying to hide his emotions by appearing strong. Liu relays, “You see a lot of that in The Bear, which is awesome. And Robert Pattinson’s ability to transform fully into his characters is something I really wanted to emulate. It’s always hard to separate these different personalities and characters, but I make sure I take the time in the morning to get into character. Then, after work, take the time to get out of character. Creating those boundaries is really important when playing a character as intense as Zuko.”
Though Zuko still has anger issues and family trauma, this season revealed another side to the character – one where he lives a normal life. He flirts a bit with girls this season - two potential love interests. Liu did not see it that way while filming, but did when watching the season.
“I don’t think my approach was ever romantic,” Liu laughs. “It just played out that way naturally, which is really interesting to me. He’s only got his sister, but she hates him. Zuko goes off with his uncle at 13 or 14, so he doesn’t have any friends. He doesn’t communicate with people his own age. He’s probably experiencing some sort of feeling and doesn't know what that feeling is. He just knows this is kindness and pure-hearted people love where people help trying to do the right thing.”
He chuckles at the idea of Zuko being a “ladies' man” and exclaims, “It’s the editing.”
He adds, “Zuko is looking for a connection. While he has some connection to Iroh, it’s so wholesome that he’s experiencing all these things for the first time in Ba Sing Se. From an outside perspective, there are definitely scenes that could be taken in that [romantic] way.”
Liu is too attached to the character to see the fault in Zuko’s decision in the finale. It could be because he (and animated series fans) know what will happen in Season 3 and in future Avatar stories. He can understand from a fan’s point of view, especially those who haven’t seen the animated films or know what’s going to happen. He shouts with excitement when he learns I haven’t finished the animated series and don’t know what is going to happen. He suddenly empathizes with the intense reaction to the Season 2 finale.
“When I watched the cartoon as a kid, I had such a big reaction to the little plot twist at the end of Season 2,” he explains. “There’s a part of me that wants to always be righteous – just as a human being. But I obviously knew what was to come and understood why he did that in both the cartoon and the live-action. Zuko is a mama’s boy, and Azula knows that. He wants to be there for his sister back home, and they both experienced the trauma [of losing their mother]. There’s a lot of unspoken deep trauma bonding in that sense that led to that decision. It hurts me that Zuko chose to do that, even though he was on the road to being good. He was doing so well. He was trying to be there for Katara. If it hadn’t come down to Zuko and Azula being separated to be by themselves, things might have been different. He’s hard to read.”
When asked how Zuko could trust her, Liu shrugs and responds, “It’s family! Sometimes you don’t need to. It’s like a ‘ride or die’ kind of thing. Stubborn loyalty.”
He admits that those two scenes in the finale – the conversation with Katara and the separate conversation with Azula – tore him apart as an actor – and as a person. After the final scene with Yu, he went back to his trailer and broke down in tears, the kind of tears where “you’re hitting your chest and having trouble breathing.”
Liu explains, “Zuko has never really openly talked about his mom, even with Uncle Iroh. That was a big step for Zuko. That was difficult. As an actor, it hit a different nerve inside my body.”
Though Season 3 is set to be the final season for the series, Liu doesn’t feel ready to say goodbye to his character just yet. He hopes to continue playing the character, especially the story of finding Zuko and Azula’s mother and of Zuko reconciling with Azula and his father.
“I would love to just be Zuko again,” Liu sighs. “Whether he’s the Fire Lord or the story of him being the Blue Spirit for his days off, the Fire Nation as a whole is so layered and interesting. There could be a beautiful story to bring hope. The Fire Nation on the outside looks like it’s got it together, but everyone knows there’s so much corruption, evil, and negativity internally. It would be cool to see the Fire Nation evolve into something beautiful under Zuko and Azula's leadership.”
Liu is excited for everyone to watch Season 3 and possibly be “unmad” at his character. Knowing that I, and many others who haven’t seen the animated series, am approaching Season 3 blindly, he continues to shrug, while laughing, “I don’t know. I’m excited for you to watch.”
“I'm just such a big fan of the show as a whole,” Liu shares. “There are so many things that could have been done if we had been given the time, but you work with what you got – and we did a pretty solid job at telling these characters' stories.”
Check out Dallas Liu as Zuko in Season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix. Season 3 is set to be released in 2027.
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Originally published: June 04, 2026.
