Current Events > Steven Yuen will voice Zuko in Avatar TLA movie

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.ign.com/articles/avatar-creators-confirm-steven-yeuns-role-in-upcoming-the-legend-of-aang-the-last-airbender-movie-sdcc-2025

That's kinda odd. I get they're going for more closer representation to match ethnically with the characters (hence all the recastings) but Dante Basco, who voiced Zuko originally, is already Asian so he shoulda still been okay. >_>

Seems like they wanted star power which is kinda fucked. Dante Basco is Zuko.

This is a lame casting, just getting a more recognizable actor for marketing.

I don't wanna hear anyone's voice but Dante Basco's for Zuko

Don't like this at all. Replacing the original cast is REAL shitty.

I'm not sure why they're replacing the original cast, unless they're aging them up and changing their voices entirely. Guess we'll find out.

What a boneheaded decision...

SSj4Wingzero posted...

I'm not sure why they're replacing the original cast, unless they're aging them up and changing their voices entirely. Guess we'll find out.

They are gonna be aged up since it takes place years after the first series ends, but I don't know by how much.

Yuen and Basco have super similar voices too so this seems even more unnecessary. Just overall shitty move.

Well it's a good thing the original cast are now almost 20 years older! They can easily play older versions of their characters.

right?
.....right?

LightSnake posted...

Well it's a good thing the original cast are now almost 20 years older! They can easily play older versions of their characters.

right?
.....right?

LMAO I can't believe I didn't consider that, in my mind the VAs were still kids >_>

I was already in the camp that the recast were already mostly unnecessary and that nobody would complain if the original cast returned but I at least understood the idea behind it.

But this recast is just nonsensical and makes me just kinda question all their reasons for recasting in general. Dante was a grown ass man when he originally voiced Zuko. He's still a grown ass man 20 years later so it isn't a character age thing. He's Asian so it isn't a representation thing. So what the fuck are you all doing?

I mean they did get another voice actor to voice a grown up version of Zuko in Korra, so they might be going in that direction?

Prestoff posted...

I mean they did get another voice actor to voice a grown up version of Zuko in Korra, so they might be going in that direction?

He was literally like 90! Same as Eva Marie Saint voicing Katara, I think there's some leeway with that

Ivynn posted...

LMAO I can't believe I didn't consider that, in my mind the VAs were still kids >_>

The youngest of the original show's main VAs is 30-years-old now.

Prestoff posted...

I mean they did get another voice actor to voice a grown up version of Zuko in Korra, so they might be going in that direction?

They had Dante Basco voice Zuko's grandson, General Iroh, in the Legend of Korra though. And this was a character who was in his 30s.

So if Dante Basco can voice Zuko's 30-year-old (in-universe) grandson, surely he could voice Zuko in his 30s?

Ivynn posted...

Dante Basco, who voiced Zuko originally, is already Asian

zuko earlier in the original show had a sort of...idk whether to call it an accent or an affectation, but having grown up in a heavily asian-american area i could immediately tell the voice actor was asian. it's kind of like how someone's voice can "sound black" even if they use no AAVE whatsoever. i am not talking about having a lingering accent from having an asian first language. i'm talking about a thing i notice in some native english speakers.

it's been 50/50 on whether people have any idea what i'm talking about when i bring this up. some get really mad or think i'm being racist somehow(??), but i've had more than enough people - most of them asian-americans themselves - agree with me that this is a thing they recognize too.

anyways, later in the show the voice actor clearly toned it down heavily, but early on it was pretty noticable

https://youtu.be/MYj4tZ3rksg?si=y2sTsEr6YsHUkRzH&t=61

here's a bonus clip of a random dude who i use as a go-to example for what i'm talking about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Qr_Eqtrc4

Damn, reading it up apparently they're changing all of the previous voice cast. I'm sure the replacements will do fine, but I think this is a massive mistake to do especially when this movie was obviously being made to sell nostalgia.

*great talented VA cast*

"Waaaaahhh why isn't it the exact same thing from 20 years agooooo"

Yeun will do great.

Without knowing what deals were made behind the scenes, or whether or not the original cast even wanted to return, I don't really see any reason to care.

The only way I can get behind this sort of decision is if the original cast is unavailable for some reason. If the reason is just they want some star power for advertising? Fuck that shit.

I'd prefer the original cast, but Steven Yuen is a crazy good get for a VA regardless.

OniLink5000 posted...

Without knowing what deals were made behind the scenes, or whether or not the original cast even wanted to return, I don't really see any reason to care.

I could see them asking him and him turning it down if the rest of the cast wasn't going to be there. That'd be one reason.

I like Steven Yuen, but this only enhances the perception VAs aren't "real" actors and can be easily replaced

LightSnake posted...

I like Steven Yuen, but this only enhances the perception VAs aren't "real" actors and can be easily replaced

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5ffaTv4ajg

Ivynn posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5ffaTv4ajg

God, the Simspons rarely misses

KhlavicLanguage posted...

it's been 50/50 on whether people have any idea what i'm talking about when i bring this up. some get really mad or think i'm being racist somehow(??), but i've had more than enough people - most of them asian-americans themselves - agree with me that this is a thing they recognize too.

I...get what you're saying, and I know what you're talking about. It's not really an accent - it sounds nothing like an English language learner. But it's something that is very noticeable. It's something that not every Asian-American speaks with, but there are some Asian-Americans for whom it is very noticeable. It's not even really an *accent*...it's like, a speech feature, if anything. It's so hard to explain or nail down, but for some folks it's *really* obvious.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/say-can-hear-asian-american-accent-others-deny-exists-rcna150000

I'm in a weird place - I don't know if I have it, cause it's hard to know what you really sound like yourself - but I have heard other people speak with it. I suppose I should ask about it.

SSj4Wingzero posted...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/say-can-hear-asian-american-accent-others-deny-exists-rcna150000

Yeah talking about it with someone who thinks it doesn't exist is like having that argument about the color of that one dress all over again. In my experience it's mainly people who haven't met many asian-americans who deny it. The guy in the second video I posted is a really strong example. If someone still says they can't tell what I'm talking about after listening to that, I give up lol

LightSnake posted...

I like Steven Yuen, but this only enhances the perception VAs aren't "real" actors and can be easily replaced

Yuen has been voice acting since the late 2000s, before he even blew up as Glen.

Hes just as much a VA as he is an on screen actor.

He was in the Voltaren show in 2017 before he even started playing invincible. Hes a very tenured and experienced voice actor.

Toonstrack posted...

Yuen has been voice acting since the late 2000s, before he even blew up as Glen.

Hes just as much a VA as he is an on screen actor.

He was in the Voltaren show in 2017 before he even started playing invincible. Hes a very tenured and experienced voice actor.

I feel you're missing a point here. It's not that Yuen isn't a VA, he is. I like Yuen as an actor very much. He was incredible in Burning.

But he's not Dante Basco and this was never his role. Replacing Basco for a more popular VA is something we shouldn't condone

Enclave posted...

The only way I can get behind this sort of decision is if the original cast is unavailable for some reason. If the reason is just they want some star power for advertising? Fuck that shit.

Theres a whole lot of reasons this can happen that most people have no idea about.

Ppl thing if a Voice actor isn't busy and can be afforded then that's an automatic "just hire this person" but that isnt how this works.

Location of production, the VAs reps, the shows budget, the VAs rates, the recording time alotted, the contracts, rights issues, all of that plays a factor in getting VAs back.

And 99% of the time, such things are worlds different between television cartoons and big budget animated films.

Obviously too, there's the fact Steven yuen is a MUCH bigger star, and his name attached to this movie increases its prominence and advertising potential a hundredfold. If you expect any studio to eschew that then you aren't being realistic.

LightSnake posted...

I feel you're missing a point here. It's not that Yuen isn't a VA, he is. I like Yuen as an actor very much. He was incredible in Burning.

But he's not Dante Basco and this was never his role

Dante basco doesn't "own" this character. He didn't create him. He did A voice for a particular era of the character when that character is 16 years old.

He already isnt the only Zuko voice actor. Hasn't been for a while. It'll be fine.

The idea an Avatar film would have issues getting back Dante Basco seems suspect.

Enclave posted...

The only way I can get behind this sort of decision is if the original cast is unavailable for some reason. If the reason is just they want some star power for advertising? Fuck that shit.

Here's the crazy part, I don't necessarily think it's star power. Do you know any of these names? Eric Nam (Aang), Dionne Quan (Toph), Jessica Matten (Katara), and Romn Zaragoza (Sokka)? The only 2 big star power they currently have is Dave Bautista and Steve Yeun. In fact, the only reason I know Dionne Quan is because she's the voice of Kimmy from Rugrats and I personally met her (and she's a great person, my niece who is mute was able to meet her at a disability event because Dionne is blind her self) but most people won't even know that unless they look up her resume.

As shitty as it sounds, it might just be a creative choice to replace the actors, possibly with a more "accurate ethnicity representation" since many of the old cast were white. With that said, I don't think Dante Bosco had to be replaced if this was the reason because he's asian himself. I have a lot of Filipino friends who sound very very similiar to him lol.

Toonstrack posted...

Theres a whole lot of reasons this can happen that most people have no idea about.

Ppl thing if a Voice actor isn't busy and can be afforded then that's an automatic "just hire this person" but that isnt how this works.

Location of production, the VAs reps, the shows budget, the VAs rates, the recording time alotted, the contracts, rights issues, all of that plays a factor in getting VAs back.

And 99% of the time, such things are workds different between television cartoons and big budget animated films.

Obviously too, there's the fact Steven yuen is a MUCH bigger star, and his name attached to this movie increases its prominence and advertising potential a hundredfold.

Yup, there's a reason I went as broad as I did.

Thing is, stuff like this often happens purely for the star power and I fucking hate when that's the case.

I love basco as zuko. But I'm ok with seeing another take on the character.

Most fictional characters aren't and shouldn't be tied to one actor. They are malleable; dynamic, and fluid in interpretation and use. Regardless of our feelings toward particular portrayals, it's unrealistic to tie iconic fictional characters to an actor beyond reason.

Like, I can watch a production where Peter Cullen isn't Optimus prime. Chris Hemsworth got these same complaints with TF One. But he did a great job in the role.

This is a necessary part of the industry

Enclave posted...

Yup, there's a reason I went as broad as I did.

Thing is, stuff like this often happens purely for the star power and I fucking hate when that's the case.

As someone else pointed out, that's a wierd conclusion to draw when a bunch of the cast are relative nobodies. Not like they cast Chris Pratt as aang here.

only happening because the film is going to theaters, straight to streaming the old VA would have been kept

Toonstrack posted...

I love basco as zuko. But I'm ok with seeing another take on the character.

Most fictional characters aren't and shouldn't be tied to one actor. They are malleable; dynamic, and fluid in interpretation and use. Regardless of our feelings toward particular portrayals, it's unrealistic to tie iconic fictional characters to an actor beyond reason.

Like, I can watch a production where Peter Cullen isn't Optimus prime. Chris Hemsworth got these same complaints with TF One. But he did a great job in the role.

This is a necessary part of the industry

I don't see how Cullen not voicing a much younger version of his character in a prequel is the same as this

Toonstrack posted...

As someone else pointed out, that's a wierd conclusion to draw when a bunch of the cast are relative nobodies. Not like they cast Chris Pratt as aang here.

I didn't say that's what they did. My initial post makes it reasonably clear that I don't know what the reason is.

LightSnake posted...

The idea an Avatar film would have issues getting back Dante Basco seems suspect.

I agree, Dante Bosco almost never says no when it comes to Zuko.

However, seeing as how most of the main cast replacements are really a bunch of nobodies, I doubt it's for star power alone. It really just seems it was either a case of studio meddling and/or a creative choice to replace everyone. I'm just hoping that if it was a "creative choice" that both DiMartino and Konietzko agreed to it.

I love steven yuen but this is dumb

Yep, looked in the wikipedia "casting" section:

According to the film's casting director, Jenny Jue, the decision to recast the principal characters was on behalf of DiMartino and Konietzko. This direction was influenced by the increased emphasis on matching voice actor's ethnic and racial backgrounds to that of the character that they are portraying, that arose in the industry after the conclusion of the original series. She said, "ATLA is a fictional world, but there are cultural influences for each nation/kingdom, and we wanted to explore the talent from those groups".[20][21]Mae Whitman, the original voice actress for Katara, remarked that despite cherishing her experience, she was excited to see "actors come in, who honestly fit the role much better".[22]

My suspicion was right, the recast was mostly done as a creative decision to match the characters ethnic and racial background.

Now with that said, I think Dante Basco should have still been Zuko...unless we're still doing the "Filipino's aren't asian, they're 'PaCiFiC iSlAnDeRs'" (I mean in that case, Japan should be considered a pacific islander as well). But Steven Yeun is just a solid voice actor in general as well, so I'm hoping they also took into account merits as well.

KhlavicLanguage posted...

Yeah talking about it with someone who thinks it doesn't exist is like having that argument about the color of that one dress all over again. In my experience it's mainly people who haven't met many asian-americans who deny it. The guy in the second video I posted is a really strong example. If someone still says they can't tell what I'm talking about after listening to that, I give up lol

Yeah, I get what you're saying. And it's weird because not every Asian-American speaks this way. I have met folks for whom it is *incredibly* obvious (you could blindfold me and I'd know they were Asian-Americans), and then there are others for whom the speech pattern is barely noticeable. One of these days I might record myself and blindfoldedly listen to myself and see if I can identify the speech pattern

It seems like they changed a lot of the characters. Hopefully for an actual creative reason and not because of executive meddling like what happened to the live-action series