Daniel Dae Kim Cast as Fire Lord Ozai in Netflix’s Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender

Television

According to Deadline, Daniel Dae Kim has joined Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series as Fire Lord Ozai. Kim is known for TV series like Lost and HawaiiFive-O and films including Hellboy and Always Be My Maybe. He joins Dallas Liu, Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, and Ian Ousley, who are set to play Zuko, Aang, Katara, and Sokka, respectively. This will not be Kim’s first Avatar project; the actor played General Fong in Book 2: Earth, episode 1, “The Avatar State.” He also had a more substantial role in Legend of Korra as Asami Sato’s father, Hiroshi. 

It would be fair to say I haven’t been very nice to Netflix’s Avatar remake thus far. Trying to adapt the series to live-action just seems misguided and has gone horribly wrong before. Frankly, there are very few improvements that could be made to the animated show, and I somehow doubt Netflix has those in mind anyway. This is their way of cashing in on an already-beloved show that exploded in popularity during the pandemic. I can understand that from their perspective, but as a fan of the series, I’m more focused on the red flags present. 

Daniel Dae Kim is the first cast member announced that I’ve heard of before. I think he’s a solid choice. This kind of in-franchise cross-pollination reminds me of Seychelle Gabrielle playing Princess Yue in the rightfully maligned Shyamalan film and then voicing Asami in Korra. He does look like Ozai, and while he won’t have Mark Hamill’s iconic voice, I’m sure he’ll manage. I’m still dreading this series, and I don’t have faith in Netflix or the team behind the show. I do intend to watch it, though. This is the first bit of good news on this show to come out since the original creators left.