The casting director for The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender discusses not bringing back the original series’ voice cast for the next Avatar animated feature.

In a Reddit AMA session, official casting director Jenny Jue answered fans’ questions about Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action adaptation, Snowpiercer and other productions, including the upcoming animated feature The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender. When asked why the original voice cast didn’t return for the upcoming film, Jue explained, “Since the original show was released, there’s been more emphasis in VO to match actors’ ethnic/racial background to the characters they’re portraying. ATLA is a fictional world, but there are cultural influences for each nation/kingdom, and we wanted to explore the talent from those groups.”

‘The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender’ Movie Will Star a New Cast of Voice Actors

Set to serve as a continuation of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, which ran from 2005-2008, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender takes place several years after the events of the series and will follow its core cast of characters in their lives as young adults. The film’s cast included Eric Nam as Aang, Dionne Quan as Toph Beifong, Jessica Matten as Katara and Román Zaragoza as Sokka, replacing the original series’ cast of Zach Tyler Eisen, Jessie Flower, Mae Whitman and Jack De Sena. The Legend of Aang will also feature the voices of Steven Yeun and Dave Bautista in currently unnamed roles, with the latter taking on the part of the film’s primary antagonist.

The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is just one of numerous additions being made to the franchise in the coming year. Apart from the animated feature, a whole new animated series, Avatar: Seven Havens, will bring fans back to the world of the original for a direct follow-up to 2012’s The Legend of Korra, which ended with its titular Avatar bridging the gap between the world she knows and the Spirit World. While this seemed like a hopeful note at the time, Seven Havens will showcase just how much damage and destruction that decision wrought, with the next Avatar being considered the most wanted person in multiple realms.

In March 2025, original Avatar: The Last Airbender voice actor Jennifer Hale, who portrayed the iconic Avatar Kyoshi, stated that she would “love to jump back into the role.” Hale went on to note, “I love this character, Kyoshi, because she will do what it takes regardless. I think we have that in common for better or for worse. I love her strength because it was recorded during a time where this wasn’t as common and women weren’t as much in these roles, doing these kinds of things. Now, thankfully, this seems much more of the norm. At that point, it was just beginning to take part of that.”

The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is currently set to arrive in theaters on Jan. 30, 2026.

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Source: Reddit