It’s almost here! The live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender is set to stream on Netflix starting February 22, 2024. As fans eagerly await for the new series, we broke down everything you should know about the actress playing fan-favorite Katara.
Keep reading for everything we know about upcoming star, Kiawentiio Tarbell.
Who Plays Katara in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’?
The 17-year-old is a Canadian actress and singer-songwriter! Kiawentiio is taking on the role as Katara, a “determined and hopeful” 14-year-old who is the “last waterbender in her small village,” per Netflix.
You might recognize Kiawentiio from the TV series Anne with an E. The Netflix show follows the adventures of a young orphan girl as she learns to navigate her way on Prince Edward Island. The actress starred as Ka’kwet, a young member of the Mi’kmaq people, who forged a close bond with Anne.
While making her acting debut in 2019, she’s since taken on other roles throughout her career. She voiced Wahta in the animated marvel series What If…? and also starred as Zarya in the short film, N’xaxaitkw.
The rising actor already has a big following on Instagram, with over 206,000 fans!
What Has Kiawentiio Said About Her Role?
Kiawentiio hasn’t shared much on what viewers should expect for her role. However, she did tease some new elements for Sokka’s character.
ICYDK, the fictional character is Katara’s older brother, who is known for being intelligent yet immature at the same time.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly in February 2024, Kiawentiio shared some changes to the series.
“I feel like we also 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.”
Her costar, Ian Ousley, also confirmed the news saying, “Yeah, totally. There are things that were redirected just because it might play a little differently [in live action].”
That isn’t the only change coming to the series. Showrunner Albert Kim previously shared that the live-action version doesn’t start the same as the animated show!
He told the same publication in December 2023, “We had to sometimes unravel storylines and remix them in a new way to make sense for a serialized drama. So I’m very curious to see what’ll happen in terms of reaction to that.”
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