'Avatar: Last Airbender' Zuko Actor Confirms He Has Talked To Live-Action Show Creators

This post was originally published on Sunday, July 19, 2020, before Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko announced that they were leaving Netflix's live-action adaptation.

Dante Basco, who voiced Zuko on Avatar: The Last Airbender, has confirmed that he's talked to the series creators about the live-action adaptation!

Dante Basco, who voiced the fan favorite Prince Zuko on Avatar: The Last Airbender, has confirmed that he's talked to series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko about the upcoming live-action adaptation. Avatar has already been adapted into live-action form before with M. Night Shayamalan's The Last Airbender, but to say it didn't go well would be putting it lightly. Fans of the beloved animated series were heavily displeased with the changes made in creating The Last Airbender, from cramming an entire season's worth of storylines into one movie to pronouncing certain characters' names wrong. There was a palpable weariness among the fan base when Netflix announced its intention to create a new live-action Avatar series, but the news that DiMartino and Konietzko are involved helped win people over.

Now fans are eagerly awaiting any updates they can come by for this new Avatar series, but so far progress has been slow, hampered even further by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Casting hasn't even been announced for the series, though the creators promised to hire actors of color for the Asian-influenced show. One character bound to get extra scrutiny is Zuko, who has emerged as one of the most beloved characters on Avatar. Zuko begins Avatar as one of the main villains before undergoing an excellent redemption arc that allows him to become a true hero.

Basco, who is also best known for playing Rufio in Hook, sat down with Screen Rant to talk about his upcoming Twitch series Artificial. Inevitably, the subject of Avatar and its latest live-action attempt came up. First, Basco expressed his enthusiasm for Avatar's newfound popularity (now that it is available on Netflix again) before saying, "So I’m really excited to be a part of the Avatar family, and that’s coming back in live-action, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that and continuing to see what happens with the story." When SR asked if there's anyone Basco would like to see play Zuko, he said this:

"I don’t know specifically who I would want to see play Zuko. All of that is dependent upon how you cast the whole gang and how the world works out. I’m just excited that Mike [DiMartino] and Bryan [Konietzko] are at the helm of it all, and we’ve had some conversations. They know I’m here as part of the family to help out in any way, and we’ll see as it gets closer how the whole cast comes together. I’m excited as much as anybody else."

Hearing that Basco might have some kind of role in the new Avatar series is certainly welcome news, especially to those who are fans of his performance in the original series. While Basco can't play Zuko, he could surely fill a different role, either as a recurring character or simply a cameo role. He’s too young to play Iroh, Zuko’s cheery uncle who somehow manages to coach the angry young man through his issues, but he might be a good fit for Commander Zhao, a Fire Nation military man who chases the Avatar throughout the first season. Or maybe he could just be there as a consultant. Either way, it will be a thrill for fans to see Basco return to the world of Avatar. Beyond Zuko, Basco joined the sequel series The Legend of Korra to voice Zuko's grandson Iroh.

Hopefully more people from the original series can get involved with the live-action Avatar. Everyone's favorite cabbage merchant has already expressed his interest in appearing somehow, and more might join as the series ramps up production. It's likely that Avatar is still in the development stages, but things might move quicker now that the animated show has gotten more attention with its move to Netflix. It's only a matter of time until Netflix reveals more about this highly-anticipated show.

From Game Fragger:

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER Star Dante Basco Discusses His Role On Twitch's ARTIFICIAL

With Avatar: The Last Airbender officially on Netflix, we caught up with Prince Zuko voice actor Dante Basco to see what he had to say about his new series Artificial: Remote Intelligence! Hit the jump!

When Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered on Nickelodeon, the series not only acted as a gateway for young viewers to explore different types of animation style but it also gave the world a very layered and dramatic story with amazing characters. One of the best examples of that was fire bender Prince Zuko.

Zuko's character arc has been one of the best examples of a three-dimensional character since someone like Vegeta or Loki. The inner struggle he goes through while finding his path makes him one of the best characters in the series. However, none of that could have been achieved without a talented voice to make him come to life.

For over a decade, without many knowing it, voice actor Dante Basco has been impacting the minds of many people with his extensive voice work over the years. From beginning his career as Rufio, leader of the lost boys in Hook, to hunting down the Avatar as Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Basco has been apart of many childhoods and helped create some of the most memorable stories of the modern age.

Most recently, his work on the interactive Twitch show Artificial: Remote Intelligence has seen the actor take on a new challenge in entertainment, a series that the fans actively create! We recently caught up with him on Comic Book Movie to hear his thoughts about the show. Give it a look below, and don't forget to give the audio interview a listen at the end!

Joe: So how do you like it on the show? I know you haven't been on very long.

Dante Basco: I just started, I mean we just did the first character building episode and so I'm really excited. I really have never done anything like this outside of theater. It feels like theater in a digital age, so I'm pretty excited to see how the whole process goes and I'm looking forward to working with Bernie, I'm a big fan of his.

Joe: I tuned in the other day when the fans were working on making your character so I'm curious to know which facets of your character you were surprised to receive?

Dante Basco: You know, I can't remember all of the characteristics but the whole thing is a new experience, and it's kind of like putting together a D&D character but with thousands of people together.

Joe: And that's funny because when I talked to Bernie he had mentioned that you likened the process to character creation in D&D. Do you feel like your experience playing D&D has helped you with the off-the-cuff and interactive nature of Artificial?

Dante Basco: Yeah totally, I think it's going to. I'm not a big D&D player, I sort of got back into it a few years ago when working with Rooster Teeth. I just realized as I got back into improv and involved in shows like Critical Roll with my friends Laura and Travis.

Joe: Is that Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham?

Dante Basco: Yeahhh!

Joe: Yeah see, I know my voice actors! So, I'm curious - Twitch is a perfect platform for the concept of Artificial. Were you familiar with Twitch before taking on this role or is it something you're new to?

Dante Basco: I'm definitely familiar with Twitch, you know, I have a channel called Honor Society in which me and my stream team play video games on Twitch and currently we're doing a Let's Watch of Avatar: The Last Airbender every Friday at 3pm PST. We're raising money for direct relief for COVID frontliners. We have Phil Lamar and Greg Baldwin and a lot of the stars from Avatar on there for good causes.

Joe: I love that! They sent me one of those 15th-anniversary Avatar: The Last Airbender steelbooks, and those are amazing and beautiful!

Dante Basco: They're great, I have one too.

Joe: Yeah, I figured you have one, haha, I have it sitting up on a shelf and it's one of the coolest things I have now.

Dante Basco: That's awesome, man.

Joe: Back to Artificial. When I was chatting with Jennifer Field and some of the other cast members they mentioned they like to hop in the chat under secret screen names. Is that something you like to do?

Dante Basco: You know, I've never done that. You know, with the technology there is a lot of things going on so for me to just be present is one thing. You kind of feel like you're Captain Kirk on the brig of the Starshiip Enterprise and you gotta run everything, especially now during COVID where I don't have my tech guys with me or anything and I'm running everything myself.

Joe: Now, I know you're still getting used to your character, but what can you tell us about what the audience has built for you? What's your character's name again?

Dante Basco: My character's name is Zander. He's gonna be a rival to Sebastian, who is the owner of the company. And I'm a childhood friend that's coming back into his life and I'm just as eager as everyone else is to find out how I fit into this story and what kind of mischief and mayhem I'm going to bring to these characters. For me it's almost like a soap opera kind of thing which is really interesting because I haven't done any soap operas since the 80's and 90's. I did Santa Barbara for NBC back in the day and then I did a short run show for MTV back in the day, I forget the name of it. So doing soap operas are fun, there's all these different facets of filmmaking like with film television.

Joe: You've mentioned your experience in theater. What kind of experience in theater to you have that help prepare you for this?

Dante Basco: Yeah, well you know, I'm theater trained. You know, I studied theater and acting classes for over twenty years, you know? So that's a big part of my training, doing live theater and everything from Shakespheare to modern plays, and I even wrote a play. So I'm very excited to get back into a live setting and act live, it's going to be really great.

Joe: That's awesome. So have you always been into sci-fi stuff then, your whole life?

Dante Basco: Totally, I grew up in the 80's and 90's. Star Wars and Star Trek and even Harry Potter and Hook even, you know that's fantasy and stuff? And with Terminator, Skynet ended the world and that's my birthday August 29th.

Joe: That's funny, that's one month away from my birthday, July 29th.

Dante Basco: That's my mother's birthday!

Joe: We Leos are special people, man! Is there anything else you'd like to share about Artificial or any of your other projects?

Dante Basco: Yeah, just that I'm excited about Artificial. Beyond that I do have my memoirs book out right now From Rufio to Zuko and I'll be touring for that as soon as the COVID restrictions let up. I also have my first project with the Filipino Brothers, hopefully in the fourth quarter of this year.

###

From ComicBookMovie.com (via The Ring Report and Toonado):

HOOK Exclusive: Rufio Actor Dante Basco Discusses Prequel Film, BANGARANG

We recently spoke with Hook actor Dante Basco about his new role in Twitch's Artificial: Remote Intelligence, and we couldn't pass up the chance to chat about Rufio! Check out everything the actor said!

Steven Spielberg is responsible for a number of classic films over the years, including the likes of Jaws, Jurassic Park, E.T., and even Hook. In regards to the latter, we recently spoke with Dante Basco, the actor who is best-known for having portrayed Rufio in the film.

Basco has gained additional fame for such roles as Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and he was recently cast in Twitch's scripted sci-fi interactive series Artificial: Remote Intelligence. When we spoke to Dante about his experience on the show, we couldn't help but to ask a few questions about his time acting alongside Robin Williams.

In addition to learning some interesting tidbits about the movie, we also asked about the prequel that Basco worked on called Bangarang. Check out what the actor had to say below!

Joe: I was chatting with my friend Noah, and he had told me a little bit about a short film you had done called Bangarang which is a prequel for Rufio. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Dante Basco: Oh yeah! I was approached by some filmmakers, Jonah Feingold, who is a USC Grad with his production team. He grew up with Hook and it's one of his favorite films so we met at a club in Los Angelos and he pitched me the full short and I said let's collaborate and do it! So we raised some money for it and it actually went viral so now there are some things in the works for the development and finishing a Rufio origin story.

Joe: That's awesome man, everyone loves Rufio!

Dante Basco: Yeah man, if we can get that off the ground, that'll be awesome. I think people will be pretty excited about it.

Joe: Yeah, definitely. I think Rufio is the perfect entry point to revive this franchise for a younger generation.

Dante Basco: Totally.

Joe: Now we had talked a little before about how Robin Williams helped you get into poetry. I was curious about the scene where the two of you traded insults back and forth and whether that was off-the-cuff or if it was scripted? And how many takes did it take?

Dante Basco: It was scripted! I don't remember all the takes with it being so long ago, but it was definitely a full day's work. It was scripted, but you know with the way Robin is, he's really like the godfather of improv for film and television, at least at that time he was one of the pioneers doing all of that. So we had to be on our toes to do the scripted version and then to just roll with it and keep up with someone who has such world renown, you know, he was one of the greats.

Joe: Sure, and speaking of greats, what was it like to act under Steven Speilberg at such a young age?

Dante Basco: Yeah, I mean, again, I was very fortunate to be amongst some of the literal legends and gods of our industry and I didn't take it lightly you know? I was fifteen at the time and I had been studying since I was ten so I knew who all of those people were and I was a huge fan of things like E.T. and Close Encounters and so many things, especially with Robin Williams. So many things were going on and I was there watching. And you know, with Dustin Hoffman being one of the greats, I would just come to set on my days off in order to study and watch the greats work.

Joe: And your hard work definitely paid off. Which would you say you get recognized for more, Rufio or Prince Zuko?

Dante Basco: Thanks man. It's a generational thing. I think for my whole life I've been "Rufio" to the world at large longer than I haven't been. So I can get into Bangarang chats any day of the week and I think a lot of people recognize me as Rufio, as a "90's baby". And then the newer generation that knows me as Prince Zuko is kind of a phenomenon that happened 15 years later, so honestly it's kind of even depending on where I'm at and the generation of people that I'm around.

[...]

###

From Winter Is Coming:

The Last Airbender star talks Zuko-Kylo Ren comparisons

Dante Basco, who played Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, sees similarities between Zuko and Kylo Ren from Star Wars, but some big differences too.

Dante Basco, the actor who voiced Prince Zuko in Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, knows a thing or two about redemption arcs. After all, his character does a major 180-degree turn between seasons 2 and 3 of The Last Airbender, going from one of the Avatar’s greatest foes to one of his Bending masters — and eventually one of his best friends.

Zuko’s redemption arc has been lauded for how it handled the character’s change of heart, something that not every franchise accomplishes successfully. Star Wars fans have all borne witness to Kylo Ren’s redemption in the most recent film trilogy, a storyline that’s received quite a bit of backlash from fans who felt it was rushed or poorly developed.

And Basco, who is a big Star Wars fan himself, has had plenty of people tell him that Zuko reminds them of Kulo Ren, and vice versa. Speaking with Inverse, the actor discussed the similarities…and the differences.

Although Zuko and Kylo do have a lot in common when it comes to their demeanor — they’re surly, morose, angry — there’s no denying that Kylo’s actions have been considerably worse. Basco suggested that the Sith wouldn’t have been able to redeem himself the same way as Zuko did, and that the the only way for Kylo’s story to end was with his death. “We’ve seen the whole thing by now, but I said early in the game: He [Kylo Ren] has to die to get redeemed,” Basco explained. “He killed Han Solo. Zuko didn’t kill Ozai, and Ozai is not Han Solo.”

Basco makes a good point about how deeply over to the Dark Side Kylo went. Zuko, thankfully, never fell that far. And if anything, Fire Lord Ozai, Zuko’s father, arguably deserved Han Solo’s fate more than our favorite scruffy-looking nerf herder did.

Basco also had a suggestion for how The Rise of Skywalker could have improved Kylo’s arc, and it sounds like it takes a leaf out of The Last Airbender’s book. “Just have all the Jedi talk to Kylo Ren!” he said, reminding us of the way Anng would talk to his Avatar ancestors. “Get his grandfather to talk to him from the spirit realm! He’ll tell him what’s up!”

Plenty of fans were hoping for an Anakin cameo, so perhaps Lucasfilm should have consulted Basco. And given how much Kylo looked up to his grandfather, it might have helped him escape Snoke’s and Palpatine’s clutches sooner. Unfortunately, Kylo Ren wasn’t destined to have the redemption arc that Zuko had — though both villains will undoubtedly remain icons.


Speaking of The Last Airbender, several of the creatives behind it and spinoff show The Legend of Korra got together this past weekend for a panel at Comic-Con@Home where they discussed why the series has remained beloved years after it ended. “I feel like Avatar both shaped and broke the mold for an entire generation of creatives,” said author F.C. Yee. “It inspired so much of us, it’s just where our heads go when we think about what we really love and what we would like to be like and, you know, what depths we would like to accomplish as creative professionals.”

It’s established that it’s a living world, it’s got a past, it’s got a future, it’s got a present and any time you dip in for a particular story for part of that timeline, it’s alive, it’s going to evolve over time. It evolved from all the worldbuilding that the show had.

Mike DiMartino, who created the show with Bryan Konietzko, feels lucky that the show was even made, let alone still enjoyed today. “At the time doing a kind of continuous story in kids animation was not a thing that was happening,” he said. “It was common in Japan, but not in the US and certainly not on Nickelodeon, they were kind of confused by what we were making. But to their credit, they were like alright, you guys seem to know what you’re doing so we’ll let you run with this idea. I think part of the reason why now that the original series is on Netflix, why it’s doing so well is that it kind of fits that format already. Even though there’s standalone episodes, it’s a continuous storyline.”

Meanwhile, for comic creator Faith Erin Hicks, it’s the characters that really made this story sing. “I feel like Toph in particular was such a big deal for me,” she remembered. “I was this huge tomboy as a kid, and now I feel like we’re having this huge surge of women in animation and female characters and animated shows with female leads that’s incredibly important. But earlier in the 90s, in the aughts, it felt like that was incredibly rare to have this strong, tough, tomboy female character in an animated show. And also to have a show with multiple female leads—we had Katara, we had Toph, we had Azula, we had Mei, we had Ty Lee, there were so many women in this show. That was something that really spoke to my heart as someone who worked in animation… and watching the characters grow and transition and change over the course of three seasons, it was so unusual. And that’s why I continued to return to that show and continue to be inspired by it, and wanting to put that heart and that empathy into my own work. It was so different.”

And those characters continue to delight people even today! Dark Horse just announced a new standalone comic about Toph, to be released on February 16, 2021 [...]

And then there’s the live-action series coming to Netflix. Yep, The Last Airbender has a lot of fight in it yet.

###

From The Greyhound:

THE ASIAN CULTURAL ALLIANCE PRESENTS: DANTE BASCO

On Nov. 16, Loyola’s African, Latinx, Asian, and Native American Services (ALANA) and Asian Cultural Alliance (ACA) hosted a Q&A webinar with actor, writer, producer, and director Dante Basco. ACA executive board members Kayte Rooney ‘22 and Carly Dacanay ‘23 hosted the event and asked Basco questions during the hour-long webinar. Basco spoke of his career thus far working as a prominent Asian-American actor in Hollywood, more general Asian-American representation in the industry today, as well as projects he currently has in development. 

Dante Basco is a well-known Filipino-American actor, writer, producer, and director known specifically for his roles as Rufio in the 1991 film “Hook” and as the voice of Prince Zuko in the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” He is also recognized as the voice of Jake Long in Disney’s animated series “American Dragon: Jake Long” and has worked as a producer and director for multiple projects. Basco has an extremely impressive resume, spanning over 30 years in the business. 

The event began with ALANA’s opening remarks, including a reiteration of their mission statement, and moved to acknowledge the land of Indigenous Peoples upon which the country, and Baltimore specifically, resides.

Basco first spoke of his start in Hollywood in the early 1990s. At this time, Asian-Americans were extremely underrepresented in the industry. According to Basco, he would meet people who didn’t know “what a Filipino was.”  For a long time, the only Asian-American representation on screen was the character Long Duk Dong in the 1984 film “Sixteen Candles,” which is now recognized as a racist stereotype of the Asian community. Basco remarked that people today approach him and say that his portrayal of Rufio in “Hook” was the first positive Asian-American representation in Hollywood. 

“People that grew up watching the work I did, they’ll be like, ‘You’re the first cool Asian I’ve ever seen on film and television,’” Basco said. He spoke of coming onto the film scene with the possibility to show more dimensions of what it is to be Asian in America. When Basco met Jon M. Chu, the director of “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018), Chu told him seeing him as Rufio “made [him] feel like [he] could be part of Hollywood.” 

Basco later talked about his experience working for the Nickelodeon animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” When Basco was first informed of the project, he said he didn’t think it would be picked up. He remarked that the show was so unlike Nickelodeon’s other projects at the time. Their biggest animated shows to date were “Spongebob” and “CatDog” and, when reading the script of an epic hero story placed in an Asian-inspired folklore adventure, Basco was surprised. 

“When I was doing it I had a lot of great fun, it was really cool, but then I didn’t really understand the impact it was having when it came out,” Basco said. 

At the time, Basco was filming another project in Toronto and recording remotely for Prince Zuko. His first inclination of the show’s success was when another 21-year-old actor on set caught wind that Basco was working for “Avatar.” Basco recalled that, when the other actor heard, “he started freaking out. And this was an adult… he said, ‘That’s my show.’” 

Basco remarked that little by little, the show started seeing the phenomenon of what “Avatar” became. 

Recently, the series has regained popularity after Netflix uploaded it to its streaming service in May. Shortly thereafter, it hit no. 1 on Netflix. Speaking of its resurgence, Basco said the whole cast was fascinated. He partially attributes its popularity to the world climate of today. 

“I think the story of ‘Avatar’ is just a great story… But especially in a year like this where we’re talking about balancing the world out, talking about government stuff… ‘Avatar’ is this unique cartoon that tackles so many big, big issues in a light-hearted way, in a way kids can digest it, and also adults can digest it,” he said. 

Basco closed the webinar by talking about the status of Asian-American representation today. He references the movement of the last few years for more Asian filmmaking and storytelling. Today, Asians in Hollywood are at the highest profile they’ve been since the beginning of the industry. The 2018 film “Crazy Rich Asians” caused a paradigm shift in film. But Basco mentioned that the work is not close to done. He stated that the Asian-American community must lay the groundwork in order to reach long-term goals of perpetual representation. 

“Some of it is working with studios and getting studio films made, another is independent films. We shouldn’t have a ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ film out… once a year. We should have a film that comes out every month,” Basco said. He ended with a message to young Asian-American filmmakers and artists: keep the fight for better representation alive.

Event moderator and president Rooney remarked on the event afterward. She said: 

“The Dante Basco x ACA event was such a success and it is largely due to the amazing work of the ACA’s  Executive Board. The board worked as a team to get everything in place. I have to highlight the work of ACA’s Vice President, Kelley Chan as she was an integral part of the event’s success. She took on the role of contacting Basco’s publicist and was the main line of communication between ACA and Basco’s team, with the assistance of ALANA’s Assistant Director, Julie Rivera…. [The Executive Board] put in so much work for this event and I can’t thank them enough for all their hard work this semester. We hoped that this event would help highlight the importance of Asian American representation in the media in all its various formats but also bring some joy as Basco has impacted many student’s childhoods. As the semester ends, ACA wanted to have our last event be something memorable to all and we hoped it made the semester seem a little brighter.” 

Attendees of the event agree with Rooney’s sentiments. Elisa Renta ‘21, attendee, said: 

“Getting the opportunity to ‘meet’ Dante Basco was kind of emotional, especially during this time. Basco has been such a big part of my childhood, and with the recent resurgence of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ during quarantine, his message of unity and finding balance within yourself and your surroundings was so impactful and motivational.” 

Be sure to look for Dante Basco’s upcoming projects in the future.

###

Subscribe to the NEW official Avatar: The Last Airbender YouTube channel!: https://at.nick.com/AvatarSubscribe

Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix & CBS All Access and The Legend of Korra on CBS All Access!

Check out the Nickelodeon Animation Studio online: Website | Facebook | Tumblr | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

More Nick: Netflix to Host Open Casting Call for Live-Action 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Series!

Originally published: Sunday, July 19, 2020.

H/T: Winter Is Coming.

---

Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon, NickRewind, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra News and Highlights!