Avatar: The Last Airbender – Dante Basco Explains Why Zuko Is Such a Unique Character

The Prince of the Fire Nation is one of the most interesting characters of Avatar The Last Airbender, and we recently had the opportunity to chat with the voice actor that brought Prince Zuko to life, Dante Basco, who explained just what made the character so riveting. Zuko’s journey from a hero to a villain was a long one, exploring the inner depths of his character across the three seasons of the popular Nickelodeon animated series. Though his animated journey may be at an end, the fifteenth anniversary of the series has fans revisiting some of the story’s biggest moments!

As a part of the series “birthday” celebration, a steelbook blu-ray collection of the whole cartoon has been released. With a slick cover and new features and collectibles, fans have a lot to look forward to in this latest visitation to the series. Dante Basco, the voice actor that brought Zuko to life had this to say about what made the disgraced Fire Nation Prince such an interesting character at the end of the day:

“Zuko is so fascinating because I’m like, “first I wanted to choose Zuko. I just figured he was going to be the bad guy of the show. Cool, becoming to play the bad guy”, and just like everyone else who watched the show, I was surprised and smitten by him, and got to really see who this character was, and he taught me a lot of lessons that he learned as lessons himself. And the theme that kind of, I love that I think everyone who loves Zuko loves, is the theme of redemption. And so kind of going on that ride with him over the years that I played the character was amazing. An imperfect character, very imperfect, you take him into a bunch of trials to kind of get it right. And so I think that’s kind of very lovable to see someone that’s a character here that’s not perfect, far from.”

While Zuko’s story in the original series may have come to a close, the original creators behind the series will be returning to Avatar The Last Airbender with an upcoming live action series for the streaming service of Netflix!

Was Zuko your favorite character in the series of Avatar The Last Airbender? Are you looking forward to the return of the series with the upcoming live action adaptation for Netflix? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and airbending!