Netflix casts C.S. Lee as Roku, the Avatar who precedes Aang and serves as his mentor, in the upcoming live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series.
According to
Avatar News, Lee has been cast in Netflix's
Avatar: The Last Airbender series as Roku, the Fire Nation-born Avatar who precedes Aang and serves as his mentor. In the original animated show, Roku succeeds Avatar Kyoshi and works tirelessly to promote peace among the four nations during his time as Avatar. Being close with Fire Lord Sozin before the Fire Nation ascends to full power, Roku is betrayed by his ally and left for dead after his home island is consumed by a volcanic eruption.
When embarking on the journey to become the next Avatar, Aang communicates with Roku throughout the course of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Acting as his mentor, Roku provides Aang with wisdom and guidance on how to master the four elements. Roku is also the one who informs Aang about Sozin's Comet and Fire Lord Ozai's plan to control its energy and use it to win the Hundred Year War. Roku is also the great-grandfather of Zuko, who becomes the Fire Nation's new fire lord at the end of the original series.
Lee is known for portraying Vince Masuka, a lead forensics specialist for the Miami Police Department, in Showtime's Dexter. He has also starred in titles including For All Mankind, True Detective, Chuck, The Sopranos, Chicago Med, Silicon Valley, Power, Fresh Off the Boat and more.
Lee will join a large cast that Netflix has assembled for Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series also stars Gordon Cormier as Avatar Aang, Kiawentiio Tarbell as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Dallas Liu as Zuko, Elizabeth Yu as Azula, Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai, Maria Zhang as Suki, Ken Leung as Commander Zhao, Lim Kay Siu as Gyatso, Tamlyn Tomita as Yukari, Casey Camp-Horinek as Gran Gran, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as General Iroh and Yvonne Chapman as Avatar Kyoshi.
Announced in 2018, details surrounding the live-action series' plot are still scarce. The show began filming last November and is expected to wrap in 2022. The project does not have a release date at this time. Nickelodeon's
Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is generally considered to be one of the best animated shows ever made, ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008. Following the end of the show, Nickelodeon premiered a sequel series,
The Legend of Korra, than ran from 2012 to 2014. Both series have since continued in the form of graphic novels.
