We believe that this is probably legit, there’s little reason for someone to meticulously fake a screenshot of a conversation with a fairly unknown actor, so we’re gonna say it’s real!
As you can see, he has expressed interest in this “dream role”, and as a Hollywood actor it’s entirely within his means to audition, so… he could audition! That’s pretty much all this tells us.
Brandon Soo Hoo is a 22-year-old actor and martial artist originally from Pasadena, California. He’s probably exactly in the age range they’re looking for– Zuko is 16 in the original show but those kinds of intensive teen roles are usually played by young-looking actors in their twenties, and there’s also a good chance many of the young characters in the show will be aged up a few years for practical reasons anyway (Aang and Toph were originally 12, Katara and Azula 14, Sokka and Suki 15, Zuko 16). He would also fit the bill for the “culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed” casting they’re committed to!
The fighting aspect also is pretty important for the role (and most roles in ATLA, actually), and for Brandon Soo Hoo, it’s shown off in spades in this really cool clip from earlier this year on his Instagram:
He definitely seems to have that part covered! If he does audition, it’s down to the casting process to decide whether he’s right for the character of Zuko and all the turmoil and angst that comes with it. 😜
This is actually already our second Zuko casting news, it comes to us only a couple days after reports that a Taiwanese Pacific Islander actor is being considered for the role! It’s obviously still really early so all of this is very up-in-the-air.
But hey, korranews will be covering every single bit of info we can get our hands on, no matter how small! And it’s really exciting to be already getting news.
When it comes to the extremely exciting process of casting for the live action ATLA series, you can keep up-to-date with our #casting tag!
Oh, I like Brandon Soo Hoo as a candidate. He even looks a little like Dante from the the jaw up and has a really nice Zuko-esque rasp to his voice.
ForLoveFromFear 