The creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, confirmed a major piece of casting news for the upcoming The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender movie in an interview with IGN at San Diego Comic-Con 2025.
Paramount Pictures had confirmed Steven Yeun, of The Walking Dead and Invincible fame, for the Aang movie in March, but we didn’t know which character he was set to play.
Speaking to IGN’s Kim Horcher at Comic-Con, Konietzko and DiMartino revealed that Yeun plays Zuko. That will come as a surprise to some fans who had assumed Yeun would reprise his role as Wan, the first Avatar. (Yeun voiced Wan in three episodes of The Legend of Korra.)
Zuko is the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation who is searching for Avatar Aang. “Steven Yeun was Avatar Wan,” Konietzko said. “He played the first Avatar in The Legend of Korra. We loved working with him and we’re excited to have him back in the universe.”
The natural follow-up question is whether Yeun will also be playing Avatar Wan, but neither Konietzko nor DiMartino would budge on that one.
Yeun joins previously announced cast members Dave Bautista (a so-far unannounced villain), Eric Nam (Aang), Dionne Quan (Toph), Jessica Matten (Katara), and Román Zaragoza (Sokka).
The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, due out October 9, 2026, is said to focus on the original Avatar protagonist in a story that takes place many years after the series came to an end. It’s the first of three movies planned to take place in that universe.
It’s a busy time in the world of Avatar. Also at Comic-Con, DiMartino and Konietzko revealed the first image from Avatar: Seven Havens, a 26-episode, 2D animated series following a young Earthbender who is the next Avatar following Avatar Korra.
Photo by Christoph Soeder/picture alliance via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
