When The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, the first of three standalone animated films set in the Avatar universe, was first announced, it was revealed that the original cast of the animated series would not be returning. A continuation of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series, the upcoming film will explore the lives of Aang and his friends as young adults.
Eric Nam has already been revealed as the voice actor for the role of Aang, with Dionne Quan as Toph Beifong, Jessica Mattan as Katara, and Roman Zaragoza as Sokka. In a recent Reddit AMA, casting director Jenny Jue was asked why the original cast was not brought back for the upcoming film.
As it turns out, it wasn't necessarily a narrative decision, but rather a concerted effort by the studio to “match actors’ ethnic/racial background to the characters they’re portraying.”
Jeu explained:
"I told Mike and Bryan that I understood how important it was to get this right for them and for the fans~ because I’m a fan too, also my favorite IP!
Since the original show was released, there’s been more emphasis in VO to match actors’ ethnic/racial background to the characters they’re portraying. ATLA is a fictional world, but there are cultural influences for each nation/kingdom, and we wanted to explore the talent from those groups."
I can’t say much more about it the film, except that I’m really proud of this cast and I hope the other fans keep an open mind to this new iteration of our beloved characters!
Replacing such iconic voice actors is never an easy task, so hopefully, fans approach this film with an open mind. Other members of the cast include Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy, Dune) and Steven Yeun in an undisclosed role.
We still don't know much about the story of The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, other than it follows Aang and the original team as they navigate young adulthood. The film is being directed by Lauren Montgomery, who worked on the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series, with William Mata co-directing. Original series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are executive producing alongside Eric Coleman.
After a brief delay, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is now scheduled to open in theaters on January 20, 2026. In addition to the planned trilogy of movies, there's also a new sequel series on the way titled Avatar: Seven Havens. It is set in a post-cataclysmic world and will introduce a new Earthbender Avatar named Pavi.