korranews:

The show was just announced yesterday, and…

We already have our first (tiiiny) tidbit of casting information for the new live action ATLA series!

So right off the bat, to protect this individual’s privacy this is all gonna stay very vague. It’s from a source that we deem trustworthy after talking to them. But ultimately, take it with a grain of salt fire flakes.

Basically, casting is already well-underway for the new series– they’re at the callback stage for principal characters. Since the show was only just announced yesterday, it’s likely that casting up to this point was very hush-hush with fake names for the series and characters and whatnot. We have no idea how long it’s been going on but it’s clearly pretty far along.

And we have details for one specific character:

Zuko 🔥

According to this source, an actor of Taiwanese Pacific Islander descent is being considered for the part of Zuko.

That’s all we know, but it actually reveals a lot.

A common misconception is that the Fire Nation is based on Imperial Japan. They obviously have the “imperial” aspect down, but culturally the Fire Nation draws its inspiration mainly from China and southeast Asia, specifically Thailand for the architecture, for example.

So, the fact that the role of Zuko could go to an indigenous actor from Taiwan, an Austronesian island that was colonized by China, where east and southeast Asia meet… is a pretty good sign!

After all, the main big thing we know from the series announcement is that it will have a “culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast”.

This would definitely be putting their money where their mouth is.

Of course, this is just one guy being considered. Zuko could still be played by an actor descended from pretty much anywhere– within the framework of the Asian-inspired fantasy world of Avatar. It obviously comes down to who is best for the role! And it’s a very complex, demanding role that they really need to nail.

It’ll be exciting to see who they pick, not just for Zuko but also Aang, Katara, Sokka,

Iroh, Zhao,

Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, Haru, Jet and his freedom fighters, Yue, Arnook, Pakku, etc… Since this is a series and not a movie, they don’t have to cut things down, they’ll actually get to expand them, so chances are we’ll get to see most or all of the various characters from ATLA, plus maybe even new ones conceived just for the show! Exciting!!

And if this little piece of news is anything to go by, we might be finding out sooner rather than later… 👀 

Stay tuned!