Unconfirmed report of cast for live-action ‘Avatar’ goes viral, sparks hope for fans

August 10, 2021

An unconfirmed casting of Netflix’s live-action of the popular “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series has gone viral on social media, with fans delighted to see the possibility of accurate representation.

About the news: A site called “Avatar News,” described as being run by a “fellow fan” of the franchise, revealed the so-called “first look at the main cast” on Aug. 6.

The information is not confirmed by Netflix or any other known source officially tied to the anticipated series.
Avatar News, which has fans frequenting the site for updates on the show, claims they’d put their reputation on the line “with 99.9% confidence.”
The site provides a vague explanation of how the information came to be found, citing “extensive research,” including an investigation into the social media following behavior of crew members. The crew members in question are said to have been “confirmed by actual sources.”
Listed on IMDb and the Avatar News Twitter, the rumored cast includes Gordon Cormier, 12, as Aang; Kiawentiio Tarbell, 14, as Katara; Ian Ousley, 19, as Sokka; and Dallas Liu, 19, as Zuko.

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The anticipation: A video by TikTok user @missbeifong discussing the news has gone viral, with a flood of comments from eager fans and over 401,000 likes as of this writing.

One of the top comments reads: “Is anyone else feeling … cautiously optimistic?”
In 2018, Netflix reportedly promised that there would not be any whitewashing of the cast, following the criticism of the largely disappointing 2010 film adaptation.
Unlike the film adaptation, the Netflix reboot had set the original show creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko as showrunners. But when they announced their departure from the series last August, fans were left distraught and any expectations for the show seemed to diminish.
The latest supposed cast appears to be a glimmer of hope for underrepresented communities wishing to have their cultures shared on screen.
After all, the show is based heavily on Asian history, with “Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Inuit aesthetics,” as SyfyWire reported.

The reactions: Fans are already flocking to the actors’ social media accounts to congratulate or look for confirmation on the casting.