The Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action Netflix series is reportedly expanding its cast with Prey star Amber Midthunder as Princess Yue.
The roster for the
Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action Netflix series may be growing as Princess Yue has reportedly been cast. The Netflix show will be the second attempt at a live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon's beloved fantasy animated series revolving around a young boy who wields the ability to control all four elements and sets out to bring piece to a world being ravaged by the Fire Nation.
Gordon Cormier is leading the cast of Netflix's
Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series as the titular hero alongside Kiawentiio Tarbell, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Elizabeth Yu and Daniel Dae Kim. Netflix
acquired the rights to the project with original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko attached, though the two would depart
over creative differences and was replaced by
Sleepy Hollow alum Albert Kim, who promised a faithful approach to reimagining the animated series. Filming on the
Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action Netflix series began this past November, but it looks like the cast hasn't stopped growing.
As production nears its end,
Avatar News has brought word that Netflix's live-action
Avatar: The Last Airbender series has reportedly cast Princess Yue. The show is reportedly bringing on
Prey and
Legion actor Amber Midthunder to portray the fan-favorite Water Tribe princess, though Netflix has yet to officially confirm the casting at the time of writing.
Voiced by Johanna Braddy, Princess Yue was introduced in Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 as the daughter of the chief of the Northern Water Tribe who becomes a love interest for Sokka when the group travel there to help Aang master his waterbending abilities. Yue's time in the series would be short-lived as the area came under attack by Admiral Zhao and the Fire Nation, with the former killing the Northern Water Tribe's Moon Spirit and Yue sacrificing her mortal body to become the new Moon Spirit and allow her tribe to retain their powers. Despite her passing, Yue would be referenced in subsequent Avatar: The Last Airbender seasons as Sokka struggled with his grief over being unable to protect her and the original Moon Spirit.
Though her name derives from the Mandarin word for Chinese, Princess Yue and the Northern Water Tribe bear many similarities to the Inuit and Yupik peoples, making Amber Midthunder's reported casting for the
Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series a relatively positive step in the show's representation efforts. Midthunder, best known for her roles in
Legion and the upcoming
Predator prequel
Prey, is a member of the Fort Peck Sioux Tribe which, while not affiliated with either the Inuit or Yupik, shows the producers are making a better effort to cast culturally appropriate actors than the much-maligned M. Night Shyamalan film, which came under fire for its whitewashed cast. While audiences await confirmation of Midthunder's casting in the series, they can revisit the original
Avatar: The Last Airbender streaming on
Paramount+ and Netflix now.
