Gather around and enjoy some tea and wise words. Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series has cast its Uncle Iroh with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee taking on the role. Audiences may recognize Lee from his roles on Kim’s Convenience and The Mandalorian. In addition, the live-action series has also cast Lim Kay Siu as Monk Gyatso and Ken Leung as Commander Zhao.
Uncle Iroh is a fan-favorite from the animated Avatar series. He is the uncle and father figure towards Prince Zuko, the heir to the Fire Nation who begins a quest to find and destroy the Avatar. Iroh is a retired Fire Nation general, however, he is wise, kind, and more concerned about the well-being of his nephew than the success of the Fire Nation.
While die-hard Avatar fans may be skeptical of this Netflix series since the animated showrunners (Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko) left the project, the casting so far has been mostly spot-on. The cast includes Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, and Dallas Liu as Zuko. Recently, Daniel Dae Kim was cast as Fire Lord Ozai, the father of Zuko and brother of Iroh.
Netflix also announced that Avatar is officially beginning production with much of the production taking place on a virtual production system designed by Pixomondo (PXO) Virtual Production. According to Variety, the “23,000 square foot stage is 84 feet across and 28 feet high with over 3,000 LED panels.” This is the same type of technology used for Netflix’s The Midnight Sky and The Mandalorian.
“We’re thrilled to start production on this incredible project, and we’re especially excited to work with the technology-benders at PXO to create the wondrous world of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ using the most advanced techniques available to filmmakers anywhere in the world,” showrunner, writer, and executive producer Albert Kim said.
The Avatar series has no confirmed timetable for release but it is currently starting production.