Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated series that ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008 on Nickelodeon. It is widely considered one of the greatest animated television shows of all time, winning the Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite Cartoon on top of the coveted Peabody Award in 2008. The show is so popular that it has continued to inspire spin-offs and remakes over the years, including Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra in 2012. There was also the notorious live-action film The Last Airbender from M. Night Shyamalan, but that was widely panned by critics and audiences alike. Thankfully, the original show's popularity surged after premiering on Netflix in May of 2020, and now the streaming giant is set to release its own live-action series.
Several of the principal characters have already been cast, and as production gets underway, updates about the show continue to make headlines. However, while Aang is undoubtedly the star of the series as the Avatar himself and it's crucial the show gets him right, it’s Uncle Iroh who steals every scene he’s in as the beating heart of the show.'s Kim's Convenience's Paul Sun-Hyung Lee was just announced as the kindly father figure, and it's important he gets the material he deserves.
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world divided into four nations based on the elements of earth, air, water and fire. Certain people have the ability to manipulate the elements through “bending,” but are typically constrained to a singular element, meaning waterbenders only have command over water, while firebenders only have command of fire. Twelve-year-old Aang is the exception as the Avatar, responsible for maintaining balance between the nations as the sole individual capable of mastering all four elements.
Though Aang is the only one capable of controlling all four elements, he is born an Airbender and must learn to master the rest from teachers along the way while simultaneously trying to keep the Fire Nation from complete world domination. He is joined by Sokka and Katara, brother and sister from the Water Nation, and Toph, who rounds out the group when she agrees to teach Aang earthbending in Season 2. While Aang is slowly but surely honing his skills, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation is hot on his trail trying to capture him. Zuko has fallen out of favor with his family and is desperate to restore his honor. But despite his poor standing with the family, his loving Uncle Iroh stands by his side wherever he goes.
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The show received so much acclaim in part because of its delicate yet effective incorporation of heavy themes and abstract ideas for kids like genocide, totalitarianism, freedom of choice and several spiritual concepts like reincarnation. Throughout the show, it’s fair to say Zuko and Azula are the characters everyone loves to hate, and even the members of the core four like Aang and Katara can be grating at times. But the one and only anchor steadying the ship is Iroh. His storyline is one of the show’s most heartbreaking, and his loyalty to Zuko, even when it’s undeserved, is truly touching.
Iroh is the emotional core of the show, so Paul Sun-Hyung Lee will have his work cut out for him in capturing that same calm and compassionate spirit for the Netflix version. But if the creative team pulls it off, fans will have the opportunity to experience the greatness of the character all over again.
To see Iroh in live-action, Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender series is in production.