Avatar: The Last Airbender's Daniel Dae Kim shared a behind-the-scenes look at the early stages of his transformation into the series' overarching villain, the powerful Fire Lord Ozai.
Netflix is hard at work developing Avatar: The Last Airbender, a live-action streaming series adapting the celebrated Nickelodeon cartoon of the same name. The streaming platform has been casting the series' main characters since earlier this summer, but only recently did the Avatar team find its Fire Lord Ozai in Kim, best known for his roles in shows such as Hawaii Five-O and Lost. Despite the announcement of Kim's casting arriving only about a week ago, it appears the actor's transformation has already begun, as Kim recently shared a photo of himself in a makeup chair with the caption, "And the prep begins. #bubblehead #ozai #avatar."
In the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, which ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008, Fire Lord Ozai served as the series' most formidable antagonist. Ozai is the tyrannical leader of the Fire Nation whose goal is to capture Aang, the reincarnated Avatar and the world's last surviving airbender. The original Ozai was voiced by Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame, but Kim is set to carry the flame into the newest adaptation. The casting call for Ozai described the Fire Lord's personality as an intense CEO of a major corporation who is willing to sacrifice everything for power.
Kim previously expressed his excitement for the role, sharing a fiery gif of Avatar's original animated Ozai on social media to celebrate. In addition to his plethora of previous work across film and TV, Kim has contributed to The Last Airbender universe before -- and not just once. Kim voiced Earth Kingdom officer General Fong in one episode of the original Avatar, and then returned to play the character of Hiroshi Sato in its sequel series, The Legend of Korra.
Netflix has yet to begin filming Avatar: The Last Airbender, meaning that Kim's prep work is likely underway for an early stage of pre-production. Alongside Kim, Avatar's cast includes Gordon Cormier (The Stand) as protagonist Aang, and Kiawentiio (Anne with an E) and Ian Ousley (13 Reasons Why) will portray Water Tribe siblings Katara and Sokka, respectively. Ozai's son, Prince Zuko, will be played by Dallas Liu, who previously appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, PEN15 and Players.
Despite the original Avatar creators parting ways with the adaptation over creative differences in 2020, Netflix promises a faithful reimagining of the series helmed by showrunner/executive producer/writer Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow, Nikita). Rounding out the creative team are executive producers Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore, Michael Goi and co-executive producer Roseanne Liang. Goi and Liang are set to direct some of the episodes, along with Jabbar Raisani (Lost in Space).
Avatar: The Last Airbender does not yet have a release date, but all three seasons of the original cartoon are available to stream on Netflix in the US, as is Korra and the 2010 live-action movie The Last Airbender.
Source: Instagram