2024’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action adaptation of the animated television series of the same name, which premiered from 2005 to 2008. The show stars Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, and more. The first season of the show includes eight episodes and has received mixed response from the audience and the critics.
Avatar: The Last Airbender’s story follows Avatar Aang and his companions Sokka and Katara and his journey to master the four elements while being pursued by Zuko; the exiled prince of Fire Nation. Avatar Aang faces the responsibility to bring an end to the Fire Nation’s war against other nations. Ian Ousley recently spoke about his character of Sokka and how it is different from the animated series.
Ian Ousley addresses changes in his character for live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender
Actor Ian Ousley who portrays the character of Sokka on Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the companions of Aang and brother of Katara. Sokka being a non-bender, over the time learns how to masters swordplay and uses a boomerang, machete, and jian sword to fight his enemies.
Sokka has been known from the animated series as someone being skeptical, abrasive, sexist, and immature but always sharp-witted. But for the live-action adaptation, fans noticed how makers decided to remove his ‘sexist’ attitude which raised a lot of questions because they pointed out that it might change his entire arc.
Kiawentiio who plays Katara on the show shared with EW,
“I feel like we took out the element of how sexist Sokka was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy.”
The actor also spoke to Metro where he addressed the questions about his character’s traits being left off. He said,
“I think that the essence of the character that Sokka is, is 100% the character that is portrayed in the live-action version of the show. I think the fans are a little worried that there’s going to be changes in who Sokka is, and I don’t relly thinks that’s been the case at all in our show.”
However, he adds that it’s different from what people see in animated series but the heart and soul of the animation show is the breath that the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender is playing into. He went on to explain that it’s impossible to fit every single arc of every single thing for the animated show into their live-action adaptation.
How changes in Sokka’s character affect the portrayal of Suki in Avatar: The Last Airbender?
According to an opinion piece published by Polygon, the changes in Sokka’s character (mainly taking out his sexist attitude) have affected the portrayal of Kyoshi Warrior on the show. They noted how Aang, Katara, and Sokka find themselves on Kyoshi Island and get ambushed by them but then very quickly the series takes a turn from the source material and starts to set up Suki played by Maria Zhang for the audience.
According to Agents of Fandom, Sokka who dismisses the idea of female warriors changes his opinion quickly upon meeting Suki which does not sit right with the fans. However Sokka’s desire to be the best leader possible is still lives in the live- adaptation with Suki helping him out in what it means.
They also noted how Suki’s character has also been toned down because of the changes in Sokka’s character. The original show portrays Suki as brash and shows Sokka how ignorant and sexist his views are but for the live-action adaptation, Suki is telling Sokka off but in the ways of warrior instead. One of the significant changes that fans noticed was the prolonged shots of Suki eyeing Sokka hinting that she might be more interested in him compared to the original show.
Avatar: The Last Airbender also portrays Suki; the Kyoshi Warrior as a sheltred girl who has never left the Kyoshi Island and wishes to experience the world at large. This goes away differently from how she has been shown in the animated series. Fans have noted that they are not on board with Suki’s plotline revolving around bolstering Sokka rather than besting him. The live-action portrayal of the character makes Suki look like one of the women falling for Sokka’s charm rather than being a strong character on her own as she should be. This does not please the fans as she looks like a mere love interest in the show.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix.
