In the spring of 2021, Kiawentiio was filming a music video when she found out her life was about to be changed forever. She had received a call from her team regarding a role she had auditioned for the past few weeks. Thinking she had to do yet another audition, she mentally prepared herself for the worst. Instead, they had good news: Kiawentiio had gotten the part of Katara in Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
“I remembered just sinking into my hands and bawling my face off,” Kiawentiio tells The Nerds of Color over Zoom. “My parents were doing the same right beside me. It’s just so surreal, you know?”
Kiawentiio has been on her official press tour for the past few weeks and is excited to finally talk about the series. Having filmed the series over two years ago, she has had to keep everything under wraps since then. Because of this, the reality of being in one of the most anticipated live-action adaptations didn’t really hit her until the cast traveled to Brazil for the Netflix Tudum Global Fan Event last year, giving a sneak peek of the series.
“I’ve never seen fans in person on that scale,” Kiawentiio says excitedly. “That was very eye opening and just incredible. With the trailer dropping and the countdown starting, it’s still hitting me.”
In the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, nations are divided by four classical elements — water, earth, fire, and air — each with the ability to “bend” these elements at will. In order for there to be balance between nations, an “Avatar” is chosen with the ability to bend all four elements, bridging the gap between the mortal and spirit world. At the center of the story is a young Airbender named Aang (Gordon Cormier), who is revealed to be the current Avatar. With the help of his new friends, Southern Water Tribe leader Sokka (Ian Ousley) and his waterbender sister Katara, Aang begins his training in all four elements in order to defeat the villainous Fire Lord (Daniel Dae Kim) and bring peace back to the world.
As a fan of the animated series, Kiawentiio really studied Katara to fully understand the character’s personality and reactions to certain situations. She didn’t want the character to be a carbon copy of the cartoon, however, so she added her own spin to her. She recalls, “Looking back, as we [continued] filming, I [became] more comfortable in making my own decisions for the character. Just because I was getting used to it and more comfortable in the environment as well.”
In order to master Katara’s waterbending abilities, Kiawentiio and the young cast were sent to “Bender Boot Camp,” an intensive training experience where they studied different forms of bending and martial arts poses. Because she never had formal martial arts training before, Kiawentiio found it very challenging. But it also gave her a chance to experience Katara’s own journey of learning to “bend” correctly.
“It was a challenge for me,” Kiawentiio admits. “But I feel like it helps me feel closer to Katara because we were going through the same journey at the same time. While we’re going through her mastering her element, so was I, in a sense, while filming went on. I definitely learned a lot about myself through this experience. Even when you watch the show, you see me [become] more comfortable in the character. I honestly think it is just a growth period for anyone at that age.”
It did help that Kiawentiio, then 15, was around the same age as the character in Book 1: Water. Like Katara, Kiawenttio understood the pressure the young Waterbender was going through in her journey. She explains, “It’s a mixed bag of things, but [her strength] is her core and who she is. It’s something that she was gifted with and she knows the power that it can hold. She’s [trying] to prove to herself — let alone the people who doubted her–that this is something she can do and master. She’s a warrior. This is part of their culture. It’s so important and embedded in who she is.”
Speaking of culture, Netflix course-corrects the white-washed casting from the failed M. Night Shyamalan film adaptation by having actors of Asian and Indigenous descent in the roles inspired by their cultures. Kiawentiio, a descendant of the Mohawk Tribe, is amazed to see Indigenous voices be celebrated in the series. She recalls never really seeing someone who looked like her in the media growing up until recently with Native American and Indigenous projects like Marvel’s Echo and Reservation Dogs and inspiring actors like Lily Gladstone and fellow Avatar co-star Amber Midthunder. Now with Kiawentiio and the rest of the Avatar cast, there is more visibility for Indigenous people to be celebrated.
“It’s so beautiful to finally see and hear Native voices be heard,” says Kiawentiio. “And to have a seat at the table is so important. We have so many stories to tell. We are such funny people and the world has been missing out. There’s even more boundaries to push. There’s always more room for representation.”
As Kiawentiio waits for the series to finally premiere, she hopes that fans will enjoy watching it as much as she has had fun filming it. If the series does continue for more seasons, she looks forward to practicing Tai-Chi and wushu again. She also cannot wait for Katara to evolve even more, and hopefully see the Hama and the Bloodbending story arc come to life. Until then, Kiawentiio is going to take it all in — the fact that she’s part of a franchise she’s loved since she was a child and represent her identity and people on the screen.
“I don’t think it really settled in that it’s actually me on the screen being this character,” Kiawentiio reveals, excitedly. “Even recently, the more stuff I see, like watching the episodes and seeing the posters and things like that. It’s still hitting me [when] every single thing comes out. [It’s like], wow. That’s me.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres on Netflix on February 22 on Netflix.