When Avatar: The Last Airbender returns on Netflix for Season 3, it will introduce a significant change for Zuko. The Fire Nation Prince is played by Dallas Liu in the live-action adaptation of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series. Zuko was banished by his family and has been on the hunt for the Avatar ever since to earn back his place, but his journey has brought him through many trials.
Avatar: The Last Airbender star Thalia Tran, who portrays Mai in the live-action series, revealed in an exclusive interview with The Direct that a shift in Zuko's relationship status is coming for Zuko in Season 3. Like its source material, Avatar: The Last Airbender splits its narrative into three distinct arcs, and "Book Three: Fire" will serve as the foundation for the third and final Netflix season. This means Season 3 is also poised to adapt the romance between Mai and Zuko.
While filming is complete on Season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tran couldn't give too much away about Mai and Zuko's relationship. However, she confirmed "Season 3 is when it's going to show up" and hinted "they did a really cool job of portraying it in a realistic manner." Tran added that she and Liu "put a lot of time and effort" into "[doing] justice to the characters people know and love:"
"I think that they did a really cool job of portraying it in a realistic manner, and given the timeline that we have, I think it'll be very fun. We have some very fun scenes together, actually. Those are some of my favorite scenes in the show that we got to shoot. Season 3 is when it's going to show up. And Dallas [Liu] is such a lovely scene partner, and I think we really put a lot of time and effort in rehearsals and just prepping for the scene together to really do justice to the characters that people know and love, including us."
Zuko isn't the only one who undergoes changes in the last season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Tran discussed how she approached portraying Mai in Season 2, knowing where her character's arc ends in the animated series. The star said they still "want[ed] some element of surprise" but hoped to lay the groundwork so that fans could "see the building blocks in retrospect:"
"So what I think is really interesting is that we had multiple directors, and I [had] kind of spoken to all of them about this, but we didn't want it to be like, 'Oh, we can feel it coming from a mile away,' because obviously in real life, we know where I end up. And so, we don't want it to feel like, 'Oh, we knew it all along.' We still want some element of surprise or some element of change, but where I did want it to make sense in retrospect, when she does make that choice I want to look back and be like, 'Oh, I can see the building blocks in retrospect.' "
Tran noted that Mai's still on board with Azula's regime in Season 2 but wanted to weave in moments "where she's realizing the enormity of the situation:"
"So, I think we kind of wove that into there when we're in these moments where she's realizing the enormity of the situation, and she's realizing just how serious this is, and the consequences of the actions that we are taking. And so, even if it isn't really changing her view in the moment, I've made a conscious effort to really feel and recognize, 'Oh, this is bigger than what I even imagined,' and letting that sense kind of really come to me, and then eventually in Season 3, as that evolves into, 'Oh, maybe this should affect my decisions.'"
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is streaming on Netflix. The live-action adaptation follows Aang, the legendary Avatar charged with mastering all four elements in order to save the world from the tyrannical Fire Nation. The series stars Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, and Daniel Dae Kim.
Zuko Is Entering a New Era in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3
With Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender series sticking closely to the animated show's story, many audiences will be prepared for shifts in characters' arcs in Season 3 as the series enters its endgame.
Throughout Seasons 1 and 2 of the show, Zuko has been bent on capturing the Avatar by any means so that he can restore his honor and regain his place in the Fire Nation empire. This has long made him the show's antagonist, forcing him to act as a lone wolf with only his Uncle Iroh at his side. That's set to change in Season 3 after Zuko succeeds in returning home, putting him back in close quarters with his family and his childhood crush, Mai.
Mai and Zuko's relationship is one of the changes that the Fire Nation Prince undergoes in the original Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3, as the pair are finally given space to act on their feelings. However, this new relationship is also one of the things Zuko has to reckon with when he decides to pursue a new destiny, putting him on his path to redemption.
