Who’s who in the live-action series?

Avatar: The Last Airbender was one of the most anticipated Netflix original series to be coming to the streamer in 2024, and now it's officially out! The beloved Nickelodeon series stole hearts back in the late aughts when it was a must-watch fantasy drama on the kids’ network.

Netflix’s adaptation of the series is a live-action iteration that brings the cartoon to life for an attempt at success with Aang’s story outside of animation. 2010’s live-action film, directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan, was panned and mired in controversy for poor storytelling and casting that didn’t properly reflect the diversity of its source material.

While co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko bowed out of the Netflix adaptation–citing a negative work environment that was not as collaborative as they had hoped–it does seem that Netflix has worked to avoid the mistakes Shyamalan made at least in terms of the cast. Fortunately, the casting for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender has been more accurate as both Asian and indigenous actors have been cast in the main roles for the series. This has remained true with the rest of the cast.

Below, you'll find a cast and character guide to who plays who in the live-action series!

Gordon plays Aang, the protagonist of the series. Aang is a happy-go-lucky 12-year-old boy (biologically 112 years old) who just so happens to be the current Avatar, the only individual who can control all four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, and Air) and stop the terrifying Fire Nation from conquering the entire world. He's also an Airbender and is the last of his kind.

Katara is the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. Although only 14 years old, she is a person with true grit. She was initially low in spirits because of a personal tragedy she experienced in the past, but after meeting Aang, she starts to see things in a new light. She wants to improve her waterbending skills, and she believes that by joining Aang on his journey to end the war, she'll do just that.

Sokka is a 16-year-old warrior of the Southern Water Tribe and is also Katara's older brother. Unlike Katara, Sokka doesn't have waterbending abilities. However, he can still be very resourceful. At the young age of 13 years old, his father left him in charge of their village to go hunt down Firebenders. Since then, Sokka has continued to take his duty of protecting the village seriously. But after meeting Aang and deciding to join him on his journey, he'll have to leave this responsibility to someone else for a while.

Prince Zuko is the exiled and impatient 17-year-old Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. He’s determined to capture Aang to regain his honor and take his place as the rightful heir to the Fire Lord. But will Aang reach his full potential by mastering all four classical elements before Zuko can catch him?

Iroh is a retired Fire Nation general and the former Crown Prince of the nation. People once knew him as "The Dragon of the West," but after he withdrew from battle during the siege of Ba Sing Se, he fell from power. In the live-action series, he is mainly shown helping his nephew Prince Zuko with his mission of capturing Aang.

Fire Lord Ozai is the ruthless leader of the Fire Nation, who is determined to conquer all the other nations by any means necessary and bring them under Firebender rule. He's also the father of Zuko and Azula. He can be very hard on his kids, expecting them to be the best at everything. He even banishes his son Zuko from the Fire Nation because he refused to fight him in a duel. Overall, he's easily one of the worst fathers in TV history.

Zhao is a regional Fire Nation Commander. He's power-hungry, arrogant, highly ambitious, and isn't afraid to betray someone to get what he wants. When he finds out that Prince Zuko is looking for the Avatar, he's quick to jump to help him. But, of course, he has his own motives for doing so.

Azula is the Princess of the Fire Nation. She's highly skilled in firebending, and it's because she's a perfectionist. Her father, Fire Lord Ozai, pretty much made her this way with his impossible standards. She's also very manipulative and will go to any length to get what she desires. We see this in Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 when she basically betrays her brother Zuko by teaming up with his enemy.

Suki is the fierce leader of one of the Kyoshi Warrior groups on Kyoshi Island in the Earth Kingdom. The group is an elite force of female warriors who serve to protect their village and their way of life. Suki has never left the island and seen the outside world, so she immediately becomes interested in the new visitors to the island.

Gyatso is a wise and caring Air Nomad monk from the Southern Air Temple, who becomes like a father figure and mentor to Aang.

Here are the actors playing members of the Spirit World in the series:

Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.