Following his main role on Hawaii Five-0 as Chin Ho Kelly, and accompanying his currently recurring role as Dr. Cassian Shin on medical drama New Amsterdam, Daniel Dae Kim is getting ready for a brand new Netflix series, though the role is one that certain viewers will be familiar with. The prolific actor is set to join the upcoming live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series as a villainous character.
Specifically, Daniel Dae Kim will portray Fire Lord Ozai, the ruthless leader of the Fire Nation, in Netflix's live-action reboot of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series, according to Variety. Much like in the original, Ozai’s thirst to unite the nations under the firebenders brings a family burden and his son, Prince Zuko, is forced to live up to his lordly standards. Fire Lord Ozai was voiced by Star Wars icon Mark Hamill in the animated series, so it should be fun to have a totally different vibe with Kim in live-action.
Daniel Dae Kim will join previously announced cast members Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley and Dallas Liu. Avatar: The Last Airbender ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon and is considered one of the best animated shows ever, at least to fans. There was a live-action movie, The Last Airbender, based on the series, though the M. Night Shyamalan feature was considered a box office bomb.
Coincidentally, this is not Daniel Dae Kim’s first time being part of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The Hawaii Five-0 alum voiced earthbender and Earth Kingdom Army officer General Fong in a single episode from Season 2. He also voiced Hiroshi Sato, Asami’s father and Amon’s third in command in the spin-off, The Legend of Korra, recurring in seven episodes.
Avatar: The Last Airbender follows the story of four nations, Water, Earth, Fire and Air, living together in harmony until the Fire Nation attacked. The Avatar is known for mastering all four elements and is the only one who would be able to stop the war. 100 years after the initial attack, waterbenders Sokka and Katara find an Avatar, Aang, frozen in ice and once unfrozen, the three of them go on a journey to prepare Aang for the war, making allies and enemies and saving the nations along the way.
Other than Hawaii Five-0 and New Amsterdam, Daniel Dae Kim can also be seen in Lost, Star Trek: Enterprise, 24, and Crusade. He also serves as executive producer on ABC medical series The Good Doctor, which he also recurred on in 2019.
It will be interesting to see just how the new Avatar: The Last Airbender series will work out. After the original became available to stream on Netflix last year, it immediately shot to the top of Netflix’s charts and stayed in the upper echelon for nearly the entire summer. Fans are still attached to The Last Airbender so hopefully Netflix will do the series right.
Although original series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are no longer attached to the series, they have since announced they will establish Avatar Studios with Nickelodeon, which will include new animated series and films set in the Avatar universe. And if Daniel Dae Kim gets invovled with any of those projects, nobody's going to complain about it.
There is currently no word on when Avatar: The Last Airbender will premiere but hopefully it’s soon! In the meantime, watch all three seasons of the OG and all four seasons of The Legend of Korra on Netflix!
