Ian Ousley Teases Sokka's Growth In 'Avatar The Last Airbender' Season 2

The Big Picture

At Calgary Expo, Ian Ousley spoke about how Princess Yue’s sacrifice will inform Sokka’s growth in Season 2.
The focus of
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Season 2 will be on Earthbending, with major developments in the Earth Kingdom and the looming threat of Sozin’s Comet.
New characters, including blind Earthbender Toph Beifong, will join Team Avatar in Season 2.

Over the weekend, the cast of Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender took a break from the war with the Fire Nation to swing by Calgary Expo for a panel exploring the hit series and where the Gaang will head next with its two-season renewal. Collider’s Perri Nemiroff presided over the conversation, which ranged from the cast’s fears heading into such a beloved universe to their favorite scenes and on-screen chemistry, and, of course, what to expect from Season 2. Though nobody was allowed to dive too deep into the show’s future, the group including Gordon Cormier, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, and Maria Zhang discussed the feeling of being renewed and teased a few things to expect based on the source material. Along with the others, Ousley was able to give some insight into the events from Season 1 that will inform Sokka’s development going forward.

Season 1 mainly covered Book 1 of the original Avatar series on Nickelodeon, following Aang (Cormier) in the early stages of his journey with Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka to master the four elements and bring peace to the world. Before they continue, however, Team Avatar joins forces with the Northern Water Tribe to fend off the encroaching Fire Nation forces led by Commander Zhao (Ken Leung). Their defenses hold, but not before the Moon Spirit Tui is killed, and the water benders lose their power. This leaves Princess Yue (Amber Midthunder), Sokka’s first girlfriend, to sacrifice herself to take its place, an event Ousley says is just as critical for the character’s future in live-action as it was in animation.

When Nemiroff asked the cast about the moments that would most drive their performance and their character’s growth in Season 2, the Physical star said that Yue’s sacrifice shows Sokka the harsh reality of war with the Fire Nation. On a more personal level, however, it leaves him with guilt and forces him to mature in ways that Ousley can’t wait to portray through the character’s mannerisms:

“I think mine is fairly obvious that, you know, we focus in the series on Sokka losing his first girlfriend, originally, and I think that’s going to take him a while to kind of emotionally mature and to be ready to open up his heart again, possibly? I think that’s going to kind of— just seeing that much war… I think also [it] just messes with him as he’s prepared for war so much and seeing the loss of it and how his responsibility was to protect Yue. He didn’t accomplish his goal of protecting Yue, which wasn’t his decision, but, yeah, I think that’s going to open up a lot more reality for Sokka. I’m very excited to see how we focus on his humor, his relationships in the future.”

What to Expect From Season 2 of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender

Book 2: Earth will be the focus for Season 2 of Avatar as Aang prepares to learn all about Earthbending. The finale sets the stage for major developments within the Earth Kingdom, namely the capture of King Bumi (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and Omashu in preparation for a takeover of Ba Sing Se by Azula (Elizabeth Yu). All the while, the threat of Sozin’s Comet looms far on the horizon, though series creator Albert Kimrefrained from giving too much mention to it in Season 1 due to the nature of live-action.

One thing that can be confirmed, and that the cast briefly mentioned in the panel, was the arrival of new characters. The biggest new addition for Season 2 will undoubtedly be the fourth member of team Avatar, the blind Earthbender Toph Beifong, though they also teased other fan favorites making appearances going forward, like Combustion Man, aka “Sparky Sparky Boom Man.” No casting announcements have been made yet regarding any new characters, but there should be plenty of returning faces whenever the Gaang graces Netflix again, including Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Uncle Iroh and Daniel Dae Kim as the intimidating Fire Lord Ozai among the series regulars.

All episodes of Season 1 of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series are streaming now on Netflix. Check out our full guide here for everything we know about Season 2 and stay tuned here at Collider for more as it comes out.