Last year, we at Knight Edge Media revealed that Avatar Studios has decided to recast all the voice actors in their upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film besides Dante Basco. The film was previously announced to follow Avatar Aang and the rest of Team Avatar while in their early 20s as they go on a new adventure. The studio wanted to give ethnically accurate voice actors a chance to audition for the roles as white voice actors all originally voiced them. Mae Whitman, the original voice of Katara, confirmed to Awards Radar she would not be returning for any future projects:
Katara is another one who is a huge part of who I am, and I feel so honored about having had the opportunity to play her. I’m excited that we get to see a new iteration of her. A new version of who she is. And to have actors come in, who honestly fit the role much better. I’m so happy to pass the torch on, I’m so thrilled to be a part of her growth and I feel it’s important for us all to grow. For us to move on towards things that are more true and honest. I’m thrilled to have a little piece of that in my heart, forever, and I really can’t wait to see where she goes next.
The official IMDB for the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated film (first found by Airspeed Prime) has added a new voice actor to the cast list. According to their website, actress Jessica Matten (Frontier, Dark Winds) will have an unspecified role in the feature film. Typically, IMDB is not 100% accurate regarding submitted information, though it has improved since its early days.
Luckily, the news was confirmed by Matten’s own company 7Forward Entertainment: “She is currently the female lead of George RR Martin and Robert Reford’s executive produced new TV series “Dark Winds” for the AMC Network, the star of Lebron James’ “Rez Ball” for Netflix in 2024, and the voice of Katara in “Avatar the Last Airbender”‘s new feature film for Paramount Studios in 2025.” It’s unknown who will voice Aang, Sokka and the studio held an open casting call for Toph. Matten is a Red River Metis – Cree actress and is more accurate to the original show. Lauren Montgomery is set to direct the film from producers & original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.
UPDATE: Jessica Matten’s website has been shut down since this article was published. However, her website can be viewed with The Wayback Machine.
Avatar Aang animated film hits theaters on October 10th, 2025
