The Cabbage Man is coming
to Netflix's live action Avatar, and they found the perfect actor to play him. This was his audition tape: Ahem… Gasp! My, uh, my… line? That was James Sie and you probably recognized
his cadence because, believe it or not, James was also the
original voice of the Cabbage Merchant from the Avatar cartoon. My cabbages!
This place is worse than a Omashu! That's right, Netflix's brilliant casting
directors tracked down the OG just to bring this beloved
avatar meme into live action. He is a perfect example of an S tier,
goated casting choice. And James wasn't solely selected
to reprise his role for the meme, either. He's a prolific voice actor
with over 130 credits to his name. At 61 years old, this Chinese American
actor is busier than ever, too, appearing in another eight projects
just over the past year. What are you babbling about, fool? Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender
might have the most accurate live action adaptation cast of all time,
and today, I'm ranking everyone. Over the past few weeks, with trailers and promo clips
dropping left and right, fans now have a pretty solid understanding
of what the show's visuals will look like. We've seen a bunch of characters in costume, the bending VFX looks good,
the fight choreography looks great, and we even have a decent
understanding of the plot structure and some of the changes that have
been made from the cartoon to keep this live action feeling fresh. Basically, we now know a little bit about
every single part of Netflix's Avatar, except for… the acting. That's where this video comes in. Not only will I be ranking all 39
members of this live action cast, but I will also be teaching you about each of these actors'
careers and backgrounds so that you too will know
a little bit about these faces as they appear on your screen. This video is a follow up to one
I made nearly two years ago when I first introduced over a million fans
to the newly leaked main actors. This time, along with showcasing
clips of everyone's acting, I'll be ranking each Avatar cast member
on this very official-looking tier list. This is my subjective, personal ranking, but the criteria that I'm evaluating
them on is a mix of 1) how closely the actor's appearance
matches their cartoon character, and 2) how skilled of an actor they seem
to be based on their previous work. I'll also be looking out
for character specific traits, like imagine that a hypothetical Toph
actress were really blind in real life… that would get some bonus points. I've split this video into chapters
so you can jump around and we're going in elemental order,
starting with the Water Tribe characters. Then I'm going to cover the Earth Kingdomites, then the Firepanese, and the Air Nomados. Finally, at the end of this video,
I'll rank the different Avatars, as well as a few notable non-human
spirit characters that will be fully CGI, but still voiced over. Naturally, that means you have
to stick around until the end, and subscribe if you want to see where
the main character, Avatar Aang, winds up. Now let's get started with the Water Tribers. First up is Katara,
who will be played by Kiawentiio. Hi everyone! Um, Kiawentiio here. Zuko here. I don't know if you'll get the reference, but… Kiawentiio is a 17 year old
indigenous actress from Akwesasne, a Mohawk Nation territory located
between Canada and New York State. Keep in mind, by the way,
throughout this entire video that I'm going to be referencing
the actor's current ages today in 2024, even though this is series started filming
nearly 3 years ago at the end of 2021. So yeah, while 17 is a bit old for Katara, when Kiawentiio actually shot these
scenes, she was still only 15. So just keep that timeline in mind and subtract about 2 and a half years
for everyone I talk about today. Anyway, Kiawentiio most recently voiced
a character in Marvel's What If, and she also appeared in
a few episodes of Rutherford Falls and Anne with an E. Travel upstream until all
around you is green trees. Walk with the water the way the sun goes down until the land goes flat and open. Our home is there. Her most notable performance however came from her starring as the titular
character in a movie called Bean's. I’m just doing what you said, mom.
We need more friends, right? That's what I'm gonna do,
so they'll never throw rocks at us again. I gotta go S tier. This is a great casting. Kiawentiio looks the part,
has the acting chops, and honestly is about to become
a Zendaya-level fashion icon and actress. Mark my word. And don't worry, this isn't a BS fluff piece
where I say “Ooh, everyone's perfect”. No, by the end of this, I promise
that at least one actor will be an F or D tier. Speaking of which, next up is Sokka,
played by Ian Ousley, a 21 year old from Texas
with Cherokee ancestry. His acting portfolio mostly contains one offs
side characters across a variety of shows, including a slightly bigger role
in something called Physical. I had the strangest dream last night.
You were in it. No, you were drowning. You were yelling out and, uh, mom was there. It's confusing, but super real. Now before you start yelling, let me briefly address the elephants
in the room: Ian's race, and the complexion of all of the
native actors in this Water Tribe section. No matter what you've heard from
random anonymous Twitter accounts, let me set the record straight: Ian did not steal the role of Sokka
by lying about being native. I know this as a fact, for a few reasons. One, just look at him, he doesn't look Caucasian, there's definitely a splash
of something else there. And two, this is the real point by the way, he could not have stolen the role of Sokka because none of the actors
knew what they were auditioning for until after they got the part. And don't take my word for it. Here's Uncle Iroh’s actor
explaining how he thought he was auditioning for a high
school basketball movie. The character description was Harold, uh, was an ex-co collegiate basketball coach who was very, very well respected
and well renowned, and he was coming outta retirement to help coach his nephew
who's a basketball protégé. And about a month later, I get a call
from my agent saying “Oh, okay.” “So the character in the script is Harold,
but the character's real name is Iroh.” Iroh? That's when everything started to click. I was like “Oh, holy shit. It's from Avatar.”
And that's when I got nervous. I know you're still not satisfied. Ian and Kiawentiio and all
of the native actors in this video have lighter skin tones
than their animated counterparts. But like, why are we getting upset
at real life indigenous people for not looking like a fantasy cartoon? Take Kiawentiio for example.
Her first language wasn't even English. It was Mohawk, yet people on Twitter
cry about her being too white? Seriously? FUCK WHITE PEOPLE! Saying she needs to be darker is not the
woke flex you think it is, it's a microaggression, and it just proves how little
you know about these cultures, these people, and their struggles. If you're an American,
and the only native people you can name are Pocahontas and Sacagawea,
then please shut the f*ck up because your opinions are simply invalid. But lecture over, back to Ian. Despite my defense,
he's not my favorite of the bunch. And honestly, a couple of months ago,
I probably would have put him in C tier. Even at the time of filming,
I think the 19 year-old Ian looked just a bit too old to play Sokka. But then, the first
Netflix Avatar trailer dropped and completely changed my mind. Right.
There goes the savior of the world. These Sokka one liners
and I think Ian's comedic timing as a whole are all really good. I'm starting to think that Ian might be one of the standout actors in the first season. He even has an extensive
martial arts background and apparently was so talented on set that he had to consciously
level down his skills to match Sokka's inexperience. While I'm really starting to think
we might just get an S tier performance, for now, I think I'll put Ian in B tier. Everything's looking good, but we'll see. Next is Princess Yue
played by Amber Midthunder. In the recent Prey movie, this 26 year old actress
wowed both audiences and critics with her emotional
and action packed performance. -I saw it.
-Saw what? -I saw what left those tracks. I couldn't see it until it was covered
in blood, but it looked like… -Like a mupitsl.
-You saw a monster from a children's story? -Stop! Enough! Amber is biracial with Thai
and Assiniboine native parents. Besides Prey, you might also recognize her from shows like Roswell, New Mexico
or Marvel's Legion. He makes me laugh and I keep him safe. If that's weird, I’m okay with that. Despite Amber being
a top tier actress on the rise, I'm a bit skeptical about how she'll come
across as the Water Tribe Princess. Most of Amber's experiences
seem to be more action oriented. Yue on the other hand
is more of a high society damsel, who does of course showcase
her own type of bravery, but it's through very different means. On top of that mismatch, I can't quite picture what Amber's character
transformation will look like either. And none of the marketing
material has shown her in costume, which isn't helping her cause. So unfortunately,
and if feels wrong doing this, but Amber's Yue is going in C tier. Transparently, I fancast
Amber as Avatar Korra. That would've been a really great fit,
but alas, I'm excited to see her take on Yue Now, let's skip a few generations
and take a look at Gran Gran, played by Casey Camp-Horinek
of the Ponca tribe in Oklahoma. Casey is a councilwoman
and hereditary drum keeper for her tribe. She's been in a handful of shows
and short films since the 1990s, but she most recently had a recurring role
in the Reservation Dogs series. Don't you think it's time that you maybe
started cleaning up around here? Your relatives are at the door. They want to take you out for some hamburgers. Casey's acting is just alright,
but she very much looks the part, and her being a literal tribal elder
is too good to ignore… A tier. Next is Hahn, the douchebag
who was supposed to marry Yue through an arranged marriage. He's being portrayed
by the 22 year old actor Joel Ouelette of the Swampy Cree and Red River Métis
First Nations near Alberta, Canada. Joel was the leading actor in Trickster. You know, if we walked the other way,
we'd come by our cemetery. It's old, but not like, old, old. Cellar disease almost killed everyone. And he also had recent
appearances in Nancy Drew and My Life with the Walter Boys. Of course, we've walked
this path many times before. I think Joel is pretty cool, but I honestly don't have enough
of an opinion on Hahn to get excited about any…
well, casting decision. So through no fault of his own,
Joel's gotta be B tier. Thumbs up. Let's move on to Kaya. Katara and Sokka's mother
will be played by Rainbow Dickerson, a Thai and Rappahannock native actress
from a territory near Virginia. Outside of a stint on Broadway, Rainbow's most famous role
also comes from the movie Beans, where she not so coincidentally played
the mother of Kiawentiio's character. Oh, don't you scream at me!
That is not how I raised you! You are better than this.
We are better than this! Pack your stuff,
so we can get the hell out of here before they change their minds
and they lock you up! And it's basically a mini family reunion because the actor for Katara's father,
Hakoda, was also in Beans, playing the character
for Kiawentiio's father. Do you really want to go to this school?
You need to toughen up. So to make sure you're keeping up, the same two people who played
Kiawentiio‘s parents in Beans will both be reprising those positions
as Katara's parents in Netflix's Avatar. It's pretty wholesome. Hakoda's actor, by the way, is Joel Montgrand
of the Rocky Cree First Nation. You might have caught him
in the recent season four of True Detective. It's called Quid Pro Quo. You tell me something, I tell you something. You tell me something about yourself,
and I'll get you that intel. The Beans movie really sold me
on Rainbow as Katara's mom. Heck, there's even a scene where she pushes Kiawentiio's character out of the line of fire to form a wall of moms between
Mohawk activists and the police. Put it down. Put it down. -Hey everybody, calm down!
-Gary. Gary. So Rainbow as Kaya is S tier.
Then there's Joel as Katara's dad. Hakoda is supposed to be this fierce,
charismatic warrior who has a heart of gold, and I'm just not really seen that
in any of Joel's past roles. And visually speaking,
I'm not really seeing a Hakoda either, so, meh, we'll go C tier. A Martinez as Master Pakku is up next, and wow, they absolutely nailed finding a guy with the exact same facial
features as the cartoon. A is a 75 year old Californian
with Mexican heritage and roots in the Navajo
and Blackfeet native tribes. His expanse of IMDb
includes tons of soap operas as well as shows like Dark Winds and Longmire. Why would I use my own steaks? For what it's worth, in alternate theory, to me this smells more like Malachi. Another easy S tier. Yugoda is up next. She's the kind waterbender lady
who teaches Katara the basics of healing after Pakku sexistly denies her as a student. Irene Bedard will be Netflix's Yugoda. Irene most famously provided
the iconic voice of Disney's Pocahontas. Pocahontas. My name is Pocahontas. She also has appearances in Alaska Daily,
the Stand and Westworld. According to Wikipedia, there have been
only 31 Inuit actors in history, and Irene is one of them. She's from the Koyuk Eskimo Village in Alaska and is French Canadian Cree
alongside her Inuak heritage. A tier. The final Water Triber
is the North’s Chief Arnook, played by Nathaniel Arcanid. He's a Plains Cree native
from the Alexander First Nation, and his most prominent roles
are in FBI Most Wanted, North of Sixty, and Heartland. Oh, you were right. He has ulcers. Started him on some meds.
Hmm, should clear up in a few days. This might again be due to the character,
but I don't really have anything to say here. Like, at all… So, C tier. That concludes Water.
Now onto the Earth Kingdom, and who better to start off
than with the king himself, Bumi. Utkarsh Ambudkar is the
40 year old Indian American actor who's tasked with bringing the Mad King to life. You may recognize him
as Donald from Pitch Perfect. He was also in Never Have I Ever,
Ghost, and The Mindy Project. My ex-girlfriend and I, we broke up, like, right after we signed up
for this couple's cooking class, and now I gotta see her every Wednesday. -Why are you still going to the class?
-Because I paid for 11 weeks up front. What, I'm just gonna sit back and let her make delicious
date night foods on my dime? My favorite fact about Utkarsh's resume is that he once voiced Avatar Aang
in a robot chicken skit alongside Zuko's original
voice actor, Dante Bosco. -Whoops! Sorry, cabbage man!
-This happens every damn day! -Watch me bend the eggs! Bend the eggs! Ugh! What the heck?
-Cabbage forces field! Too long I have allowed you and your foes
to tarnish my humble Cabbage Empire. No more! -Cabbage bending.
-I guess I deserve this. Thank you, cabbage man!
I'm finally able to capture Aang and hand him over to my father
in exchange for his love! Before the trailers came out,
Utkarsh’s look was the hardest to imagine. I mean, how do you transform a 40-year-old stud into a 120-year-old geezer believably? The answer, it turns out, is through
a six hour long makeup process that Utkarsh once posted
a time lapse of on his Instagram. It definitely was a good decision
to cast a buff dude as the surprisingly athletic King Bumi. And while he for sure looks pretty bizarre
in the promo clips, I'm not mad at it. Additionally, Utkarsh's comedic roots
will lend themselves well to this character. So... A tier? No, probably B tier. Yeah, that looks right. Suki, the Kyoshi Warrior,
will be played by Maria Zhang, a 24 year old Polish Chinese actress
with a couple of short films and web series under her belt. It was really scary, but at the same time, I remember being on the flight and seeing, like, the Hollywood sign out the window
for the first time and thinking, like, “oh my gosh, this is me
making my dream come true”. Unfortunately, all of Maria's movies
only ever played at film festivals, so I wasn't able to get a good grasp of her acting. But you know what? Screw that. I think she's gonna be great -no, perfect- as Suki. That's right, S tier, based on almost nothing. Does the S stand for simp in this case? Maybe. Who knows? Shut up, it's my video. The next character is a brand
new addition to the Avatar franchise. Yukari is Suki's mother and the
live action mayor of Kiyoshi Island. She'll be played by the Japanese
American actress Tamlyn Tomita. Tamlyn has collected a metric boatload
of acting credits over the years, but her first gig was 1986’s Karate Kid 2, where she plays a young Japanese dancer
who captures the heart of Daniel LaRusso. She recently revisited that iconic
role in the Cobra Kai series. Had the Facebook and Instagram back then, we would have never lost touch. Tamlyn also has parts in The Good Doctor,
Teen Wolf, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. We don't even know if there's
anything left of his office. Well, you can get us into the city to find out. No, not into the Red Zone. The military has it cordoned off.
They're arresting looters every day. Some of them even get shot. In my opinion, Tamlyn is
a fantastic find for this series, but since she's playing a brand new
character that I have zero context for, I think, legally, the only way I can rank her
is by dropping her in the middle. So, B tier. We'll see. Now we have Jet, played by Sebastian Amoruso, a 24 year old Chinese Italian actor
with one previous role on a show called I Know
What You Did Last Summer. -Hot.
-You look hotter than me. Uh, not possible. Wish we could talk about it.
You know, I'm about to get married and the man I'm madly in love with
doesn't even know me. I like this guy. He's hot,
it’s giving f*ck boy, it’s giving frat bro. What I don't like though is this man's costume. Why did they make Jet less hot
than the real actor who's playing him? Something about this wig, or maybe
it's the haircut, but he looks kind of goofy. I don't know though. I still see lots of people
simping over this image on Twitter, so maybe I'm just
too straight for this analysis. Y'all let me know your thoughts
in the comments below, but for now, I'm locking it in as A tier. Next, let's knock out Jet's crew all at once. We've got Wes Valarao as Smellerbee,
Taylor Lam Wright as The Duke, and Nathaniel Kong as Longshot. Wes is an 18 year old non-binary
Japanese Canadian newcomer. They -that's right, they-
have no previous acting experience, but they do have a pretty nice singing voice
due to a history of theater and choir. So, I guess I'll just show that. Baby, I know somewhere deep in my soul… Also, if you didn't put it together that Smellerbee is definitely trans
or non-binary in the cartoon, then I can't really help you. No, she's not just a tomboy, Toph is a tomboy, while Smellerbee literally gets
misgendered in the original show. Cry about modern day Wokeflex all you want, but Avatar was literally one of the most
progressive American cartoons of all time, and you ate it up just the same. Regardless, Wes is an easy B tier. Taylor, who plays The Duke,
is an 11-year-old from Vancouver, and his ethnic background includes
Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, and British. He's another film festival actor most recently
starring in a short called Invidious. Um, well… I've been working
on this one project for a while now. The kid's cute and apparently
a good actor too. B tier. I found almost nothing on Nathaniel Kong,
the guy playing Longshot. I don't know how old he is, or where he's from, but I'm pretty sure he's Korean Canadian based on the flags
in his brother's Instagram bio. So yeah, no acting clips exist,
and you don't get to hear his voice. Which is, maybe, fitting? Since his character never
speaks in the cartoon, and has a mysterious void for a past. So, like, S tier? It feels like I have to. He definitely looks like Longshot too.
You know what? F*ck it. S tier. Alright, next up is Arden Cho,
as June, the bounty hunter and dang, she looks good… Arden is a 38 year-old Korean
American actress from Texas, who is best known for her time on Teen Wolf. And here's another small family gathering, because Arden's character's mother in that show was portrayed by none other than
Tamlyn Tomita, aka Netflix's Yukari. Mom, this isn't what I would call
quality mother daughter time. Kita, defend yourself. Arden is in a bunch of other series, like Chicago Med and Partner Track,
but forget that for a second because this girl is also an internationally
competitive, high stakes poker player. She won over $200,000
in the 2023 PGT Championship, finishing in second place overall. Arden also has a black belt in Taekwondo, so you know she can back up
each and every one of her bluffs. I love Arden's look,
and her being a pro poker player is a crazy coincidence
considering June's season 3 scene, but Arden's acting isn't the most
impressive in my opinion. While I have no doubt that she's gonna
lock in, for now, we're going A tier. Next, we have The Mechanist,
played by Danny Pudi, aka Abed from Community. Troy and Abed in the morning! And we're back with Greendale's
resident animal expert, Starburn. Danny is a 44 year old
Polish Indian from Chicago. His most prominent role, of course, is Community, but he's also recently
been gracing people's screens as Brad in Mythic Quest. Okay, it's not about taking
a million dollars from a billionaire… It's about taking that last piece of cookie
from a man who has nothing else. At this point, Danny's definitely
an expert in playing quirky, basically a cartoon character
in real life characters, so I think The Mechanist
is a really great fit. S tier. The Mechanist's son
is the wheelchair-bound Teo. He'll be played by Lucian-River Chauhan, a 14 year old Indian Canadian
best known for the series Heartland, or for starring in the movie Encounter. No, no, no way. Kids can't drive. I'm waiting on my brother. Despite being so young,
River's acting kind of blew me away here, so even though I don't particularly care
about Teo's character, I gotta give him an A tier. Before we move on to the last earth bender, look at this Instagram post I found on
River's account from nearly 5 years ago. The caption says he wanted
to show off his air bending, and well, just look at his character now, racing Aang through the air
in Netflix's Avatar trailer. I just love a wholesome story, especially when it involves
authentic Avatar fans getting to live their wildest dreams. And on that note,
the last earth bender I’m reviewing breaks the rules a little bit, because this character has not yet
been officially announced by Netflix. I'm talking about Toph Beifong, who doesn't appear in season 1 of the cartoon, and likely won't appear
in Netflix's first season either. Still, one young actress has already been kind
of pseudo-casted as the blind earth bender, and her name is Diana Tsoy. Diana is the young girl who portrayed Toph in this unofficial earth bending demo reel
created by the Netflix Avatar stunt team. This is essentially a fancasting. As of now, Diana has no official affiliation
with Netflix or Toph's character, but I think this demo reel is pretty cool,
and it's my video, so we're rolling with it. Diana is a 14 year old Korean
Canadian from Kazakhstan, with previous roles on The Good Doctor,
Kung Fu, and Peter Pan & Wendy. Every last one of us. I think Diana embodies
the Blind Bandit extremely well both physically and personality wise. Since this is not an official cast though,
I think B tier makes the most sense. We'll see. Hopefully, anyway. And now let's move on to the Fire Nation,
starting with Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko. Dallas is a Chinese Indonesian American actor
with a handful of acting credits, including roles in Shang Chi,
Pen15, and Slumber Party. When I was a freshman,
they stole our mascot's uniform, and in retaliation, we captured
their vice principal, Mr. Marshall. This 22 year old is also an internationally
acclaimed martial arts champion and weapons expert. These clips are from his competitions
from over a decade ago, but don't worry, he's still got the juice, and apparently Dallas himself did almost
all of Zuko's stunt work in this show. So be prepared for his bending and fight
scenes to look the most impressive. Side note, I think Dallas even sounds
a bit like Zuko's original voice actor. -Hello, Zuko here.
-Oh, that was so good. Hi, my name is Dallas Liu, and I'm Prince Zuko. -What's up, Prince Zuko?
-How you doing, Zuko? -It's good to see you! This, for sure, is another S tier. I think Dallas will be another standout and will have some of the best scenes
across the live action series. Next is Azula, played by
21 year old Elizabeth Yu. She's a Korean American from New Jersey, and Lizzie just got into acting recently with a small role
in last year's May December movie. My brother's around here, somewhere.
Uh, our older sister's at college. I've never met anyone
who's on TV before, like, for real. This is where I lowkey think Zuko's
goated casting presents a problem. Dallas Liu is so physically talented that I'm afraid he might accidentally
make all the other benders look worse in comparison. That would be a problem because Azula is supposed to be far and away
more impressive than Zuko, but in real life, Lizzie Yu has no
previous martial arts experience. And I don't think this six week long
Netflix Avatar bending boot camp was enough to catch her up. Visually, I don't love Lizzie as Azula either. Half the promo images straight up
made her costume look bad, and while the other half were
more convincing, I'm not blown away. Finally, that one clip I played of her acting was honestly most of her character's
screen time in that movie. So all that being said,
this one's feeling like a C tier. Almost D tier even, but we'll stick with C. Let's look at Ty Lee next. For this character,
Netflix found Momona Tamada, a 17 year old Japanese Canadian
actress from Vancouver who previously starred
in The Babysitter's Club. It's good that I'm here.
We can cheer each other up. And maybe I can even stay for a few days
and we can rearrange your room again. I don't want to feel my grief.
My grief feels horrible. -My grief feels like…
-Like what? -Like my chest is going to explode! Momona also appeared in both The Boys
and in To All The Boys for a hot second, which are two very different franchises. She has a dancing and ballet background, which is relevant for portraying
Ty Lee's crazy athleticism. However, and this is mainly just me,
but I kind of wanted Ty Lee's actress to be like an insane Simone Biles
level elite gymnast, but that was obviously a bit unrealistic,
so not a deal breaker. A tier. Thalia Tran will be playing Mai. She is also 17 years old, but is Vietnamese
American and hails from California. Her previous work includes Raya
and the Last Dragon, Station 19, and Council of Dads. I'm Chinese. I was born there and contained
the hidden history of my first five years. I have birth parents there, and I thank them for having the courage
to give me up so I could heal. I think Thalia has the acting chops, but I'm not so sure
about her look or personality fit. Like, this girl is always so kind and energetic, it's hard for me to imagine her
as a deadpan dagger thrower. And you know what? Thalia agrees with me, because she actually auditioned
for Ty Lee instead of Mai for the exact same reason. When I was auditioning for Ty Lee,
Tara, my manager called me up and she was like,
“Uh, I feel like you'd be a Molly (May)” and I was like… really? I'm just a guy on the internet,
not a casting director, so I'm going to cautiously give Thalia a B tier, but I'm pretty excited to be proven wrong
once we see more of Mai on screen. Commander Zhao will be played by Ken Leung, the Chinese American actor who you might
recognize as Zing from Rush Hour. Ken also had a big part in Lost,
and he recently stars in a show called Industry. Can you tell me the yield
you get out of that account versus the hours you put in? I'm gonna spend time stroking
these clueless fucking chinless country club fucking Henry's. I wanna see it in dollars.
It's fucking pathetic otherwise. A tier. Next is Uncle Iroh,
played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. Obviously, this one's going straight to S tier. Paul is a 51 year old actor who was born in South Korea
and raised in Toronto, Canada. His most prominent role
was starring in Kim's Convenience as the titular main character. -Have to take care of a bigger spill.
-What happened? -Oh, so crazy story, huh? Mommy come into store with a two kid. One kid crying, one kid running around. Then, uh, mummy tried to stop
the running around kid, but the crying kid is crying
because he lose a bouncy ball. Paul has also become a mainstay
in the Star Wars franchise, playing Captain Carson in the Mandalorian,
Boba Fett and the live action Ahsoka series. Fortunately, someone I served with
in the rebellion is amongst your rank. Paul will be joined in the S tier
by the Asian gigachad, jawline Jesus, Adonis of a man, Daniel Dae Kim. Daddy Kim is a 55 year old (damn he looks good!) Korean American actor with a ton of
iconic roles under his pecs, I mean belt. His catalog includes New Amsterdam,
Lost, and Hawaii Five-0. And you can't kidnap a guy
and force his son to throw a football game. So maybe neither you or I are the best
judges of what's right and what's wrong. But Daniel Bae is now mostly recognized for this one infamous scene
from The Good Doctor. -I am a surgeon.
-Do you realize that you're proving my point? That you're acting immature, showing that you don't know how to communicate, and you can't control your emotions. -I am a surgeon. I'm gonna give you one last chance
to maintain your dignity, and leave my office. -I am, I am a surgeon! I am a surgeon!
Dr. Han, I am a surgeon! Daniel is also an Avatar veteran. He voiced General Fong
in the original cartoon and Asami's dad, Hiroshi Sato
in The Legend of Korra. I can't imagine what it feels like
to wield such devastating power. I was fortunate enough to meet
someone who believed in me and my work ethic. This casting choice could make the list for one of the most goated
in adaptation history. By the way, shoutout to these 5 casting
directors who really did their thing and found each of the fantastic
actors we've ranked thus far. Alright, now that I've cooled off a bit,
let's talk about the Great Fire Sage. Fransha-. Franshaw Shwow? Franshaw Sh-chao? Franshaw Chao. François Chau will be donning
this character's identity. He's a 64 year old Cambodian American
of Chinese and Vietnamese descent. Franschal has previously starred
on shows like The Tick and Very, but look at this clip I found of him from Lost, where in one scene he's acting alongside
both Ozai's actor, Daddy Bae Kim, and Commander Zhao's actor, Ken Leung. He also told me to evacuate
everyone I could off the island. He said there was going to be
a massive accident at the swamp. Now, is that true? Not gonna lie, the Lost to
Fire Nation pipeline is kind of crazy. B tier. The final fire bender is the Fire Lord himself,
Sozin, played by Hiro Kanagawa. He's a 60-year-old Japanese Canadian actor, known for appearances on Percy Jackson,
Upload, and Star Trek: Discovery. Since we know nothing about the Ten-C, it's naive to assume
the translator would even work. Not much to say about Sozin's character either, but I think he looks pretty good. B tier. Excited to watch him murder
a bunch of Air Nomads, I guess. Speaking of dead air benders, the only one with a named
acting credit is Monk Gyatso, played by Lim Kay Siu. While this 63 year old actor
is apparently a legend in Singapore, his work is mostly unknown in the West. Lim's wife publicly shared
his acting reel on YouTube though, so what you're looking at right now
is literally what got him the job. What can you do? Command the seas? Call down a storm upon your enemies? This is a joke, right? I don't know why, but I really dig Lim's vibe. He's a very authentic and wholesome energy. I just think he's cool. A tier. I'm sure everything is gonna work out great
for his character in this show. That's it for the air benders,
so we've now reached the final section. Let's break down the avatars and spirits. First up, Avatar Roku. He'll be played by the 52 year old
Korean American actor, C. S. Lee. Lee has been in bangers like The Sopranos, but he's most recognizable
for his comedic role in Dexter. If you like little things, I'm your man. I mean, I'm not little everywhere.
Some places, I'm just perfectly average. Recently, he also guest starred
in the series For All Mankind. At the start of this video, I promised that at least one actor
would go in F or D tier, and unfortunately for Lee, we have arrived. Roku is a complex character, but he's mainly known for having
three key characteristics. He's tall, he's stoic, and he has lots of hair. And now let's take a look at C. S. Lee, whose most prominent role in Dexter
also is known for three main things, he's short, he's a comedian, and he's bald. I'm not trying to be mean, but like,
those are the opposite three things. Roku is the tallest avatar character
at 6 feet 8 inches, yet C. S. Lee is the shortest
male cast member at 5'5. I just don't quite see it,
so I'm a bit nervous for this character. Lee is a solid actor though, so, D tier. Avatar Kyoshi is next, played by
35 year old Yvonne Chapman. This Chinese Canadian actress is best known
for playing the villain in Kung Fu. I told you, I don't care what most
people believe, Professor Chao. It's just us in this room,
and we are not most people. She also has roles in shows like
Street Legal and Family Law. What Daniel is trying to say is… your firm also branched
into settlement based law, and your online presence should
reflect the firm's forward thinking with a modernized slogan and design. Yvonne is about 5'8 which is
super tall for an Asian woman. Kyoshi, of course, is also known
for her formidable figure. Yvonne's acting is a bit CW-y though,
for obvious reasons, but I like her as Kyoshi a lot. We'll go A tier. That seems fair. Now we've got Avatar Kuruk,
played by Meegwun Fairbrother, a 35 year old actor from the Ojibwe
First Nation near Toronto. He's been in several shows, but most notoriously acted as the
character Butterhead in Mohawk Girls. And on the other end of the acting spectrum, he also plays a straight and narrow
cop in Burden of Truth. In policing, the word “emergency”
has a specific meaning, Mr. Tailman. This one really isn't doing it for me,
and I don't even know why. Meegwun clearly has Kuruk's
promiscuity and debauchery down, and he can even nail some of the more
somber aspects of Kuruk's personality that were revealed in the expanded Avatar lore. He's also a large, imposing man, who looks like he probably could
hunt Polibear dogs for fun, but, I don't know, I'm just not feeling it. This should probably be B tier,
but I'm gonna stick with my guts on this one, and we're gonna put him in C. We have finally reached the main
character for this series. Next is Gordon Cormier, who will be playing Avatar Aang,
The Last Airbender. Gordon is a 14 year old Filipino Canadian actor
who has several acting credits, although they're mostly single
line background characters. His only reoccurring role thus far
was as a young child in The Stand. Have you seen Appa? My sky bison? -Sky Bison. Sky Bison!
-Repeating it doesn't help. Appa! Sky Bison. Gordon embodies Aang's energy. He seems like the most adorable,
fun loving kid with big ears, a huge personality, and the weight
of the world on his shoulders with this live action. He's a fun loving 12 year old who has a responsibility
that he doesn't really want. Reminder, while Gordon is 14 now, he was 11 years old
when they started filming this show. Sure, Gordon's acting isn't
the strongest I've ever seen, but he was so young in this,
and he has solid enough fundamentals that I think his acting growth
is going to be insane to watch. Gordon looks like a 3D version
of Aang but brought to life, and I'm so excited to watch him
grow up on this series. For now, he's A tier, high A tier, but regardless, Gordon was a great
find for our main character. Don't leave just yet, we still have
three voice actors to quickly hammer out. First is Koh the Face Stealer,
played by George Takei. George is an 86 year old
Japanese American legend who is most notable for playing Hikaru
on the original 1966 Star Trek series. -What are you doing, Joe?
-Hey, Joe, put the knife down! Don't be a fool, you just get, lemme have the knife. George has the thickest IMDB of this cast
by far with over 250 titles to his name. You might recognize his voice
from Kim Possible… We have awaited your arrival. I am sensei. Or most recently in Blue Eyes Samurai… When you speak to him,
remember to lilt your voice. A tier. The next voice is equally as iconic. Randall Duk Kim, the voice of
Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda, will be playing the great knowledge spirit,
Wan Shi Tong in Netflix's Avatar. Why must something be wrong
for me to want to see my old friend? Randall is an 80 year old
Japanese American actor who has some live action performances,
such as, and I hate to expose him like this, but Randall is also
an Avatar veteran…technically. You see, he was in the movie. I've heard stories. Are you…? My name is Aang. But come on, we forgive him.
He was Master Oogway. A tier. The final actor we're looking at is the guy who will actually be providing
the voice for both Appa and Momo. Matthew Yang King is a prolific
49 year old Chinese American voice actor with over 150 projects of relevant experience. But when the Yakuza was infected
by the Ministry of Greed, it was my duty to purge
everything they had tainted. His past work includes tons
of video games and animated shows, but it doesn't seem like
he has much specific experience in voicing fantasy creatures or monsters. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! The animated Appa and Momo were voiced
by the legendary Dee Bradley Baker. He is still very active, voicing almost every character
in the Star Wars: Bad Batch series, so it's a shame he's not reprising his role here. Clearly, this time around,
Netflix was very committed to having an all Asian and indigenous
live action Avatar cast. I'm sure Matthew will be great though,
he's definitely got the experience, and both Appa and Momo
sound spot on in the trailer. B tier. And that is everyone, the full cast of Netflix's live action
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1, ranked by an Avatar expert. And since this video took me so long to make, and I've actually watched
through the first season now, as a special treat for making it
to the end of the video, here is my updated ranking, showing where everyone's performance
landed relative to my expectations. 11 actors went up, 17 stayed the same, and 10 actors were unfortunately
underwhelming to various degrees. Regardless, I'll be excited to see
everyone back in season two, hopefully alongside a few newcomers as this series and these actors
continue to improve and blow fans away. I'll put the link to this tier list template
right below the like button. Check out this video next, hit subscribe if you learned
something new today and get hyped because there is so much more
Netflix avatar content on the horizon. Captions by Nicosubs
