‘The Last Airbender’ Star Ken Leung Thought He Was Auditioning For James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’

Bruce Haring and Melanie Brooks

22 February 2024 at 11:54 pm·1-min read

The auditions for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, which premiered Feb. 22 on the streamer, were very cloak and dagger.

Netflix went to great lengths to keep the auditions secret – including writing fake scenes set in a bank. That caused some confusion among the auditoners.

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And for Ken Leung, who wasn’t familiar with the original Nickelodeon animated series, Avatar had a different connotation, evoking the Na’vi from James Cameron’s blockbuster franchise.

“When I first heard it was Avatar, I thought I as going to be blue,” he said.

Watch him tell the story in the video below and introduce his character on the show, Commander Zhao.

Before #AvatarNetflix debuts on Thursday, get familiar with the cast. In this clip, Ken Leung tells us about his character (Commander Zhao) and how he landed the role pic.twitter.com/KTMMu8l337
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) February 20, 2024

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