Aang is the Avatar, an airbending prodigy who’s now pushing himself to master earthbending while the threat of the coming comet hangs over everything he does. He’s constantly trying to stay hopeful and lighthearted, even as the war, and what the Avatar State can do, weighs on him in ways he can’t ignore.

That inner conflict shapes Aang in Season 2, as he steps more fully into the responsibility he once tried to run from. “At the end of Season 1, Aang finally accepts that he’s the Avatar,” Cormier tells Tudum. “I feel like he’s just so motivated this season, and that’s what it’s about — pushing to become the Avatar.”
 

According to executive producer Christine Boylan, that growth is reflected in Cormier’s performance as well. “Gordon is the Aang you want, but he’s also flesh and blood — a person growing up before your eyes, exactly like Aang would have if he were not animated,” she says. 

The Stand

Katara is growing into a powerful waterbender and healer, stepping up as the moral center of the group while they cross the Earth Kingdom. She’s the first to reach out to people in trouble, and her determination to help — whether it’s refugees, children, or entire villages — keeps pulling Team Avatar into the places others overlook.

As the journey becomes more dangerous in Season 2, Katara’s empathy starts to sharpen into something even stronger: confidence in her own voice, instincts, and abilities. Boylan says that growth comes through in Kiawentiio’s performance.

“Kiawentiio brings such a grounded, thoughtful energy to Katara. You can see her processing everything that’s happening around her and making choices that are both compassionate and strong,” says Boylan. “As Season 2 goes on and the stakes get higher, she leans into that even more, and it feels like watching Katara step into a new level of maturity. There’s a real sense that she’s starting to claim her own path in the middle of the war.”

What If...?

Sokka, the team’s strategist and resident skeptic, is always sketching a new plan, gadget, or distraction to keep everyone one step ahead. He leans on humor when things get dark, but as he sees more of the war up close, he takes his role as protector and planner more seriously than he lets on.
 

In Season 2, those instincts make Sokka more essential to Team Avatar than ever. Beneath the jokes and improvisation is someone constantly calculating risks, solving problems, and trying to keep the people he loves safe; something Boylan says Ian Ousley captures perfectly.

“Sokka is a genius, Sokka is an engineer — he's not just a warrior. He’s incredibly good at fighting, but his strategic mind is so important. Ian was able to embody that kind of person who thinks 20 steps ahead,” Boylan says. “Sokka is hilarious, obviously, and Ian is hilarious — and I don’t know if he knew how good a dramatic actor he is. He certainly found a way to balance both.”

Physical

Toph Beifong is a blind earthbending master who becomes Aang’s teacher and the newest addition to Team Avatar in Season 2. Though her tough, blunt teaching style sometimes causes her to clash with Aang, she pushes him to face his fears and see the world from a new perspective.

Toph immediately changes the group’s dynamic the moment she arrives. She’s fearless, stubborn, and never afraid to knock the others down a peg. But underneath all of that is someone who quickly becomes a vital part of the team. Boylan says Miyako brought all of those layers to the role from the start.
 

“We all play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, and you always want a healer, you want a tank, you want a front-line guy. Toph is the tank,” Boylan explains. “Miyako understood the assignment. She understood everything about Toph, in terms of quips, in terms of negging all her friends to show love and affection, in terms of her confidence.”

Young Rock, The Santa Clauses

Fire Lord Ozai sits at the center of the Fire Nation’s war effort, directing campaigns and assigning his children missions that ripple throughout the world. From the throne, he decides who leads, who is punished, and who is “forgiven,” using his own family as instruments of his ambition.

Lost, Hawaii Five-0

Zuko is a skilled firebender and the exiled Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, now wandering the Earth Kingdom far from his father’s court. Still driven by ideas of honor and destiny shaped by Fire Lord Ozai, he’s forced in Season 2 to confront how those royal expectations clash with the people he meets and the life he might want for himself.

Separated from the Fire Nation and stripped of the status he once clung to, Zuko spends much of Season 2 questioning who he is when no one is telling him who to be. According to Liu, that emotional push and pull is what makes Zuko’s journey feel so relatable.

“It's like a roller coaster: He has some ups, a lot of downs. But I think his character arc is as human as it gets,” says Liu. “He makes some good choices, he makes some bad ones. But more than anything, I think he's just trying his best.”

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, PEN15

Azula is a firebending prodigy and the razor‑sharp Princess of the Fire Nation, sent by Fire Lord Ozai on missions that pull her into the heart of the Earth Kingdom conflict. As a royal raised to see the world as something to be controlled, she brings the precision of the Fire Nation court and the full force of its ambitions into Ba Sing Se.

Beyond her confidence and calculated cruelty, Azula is also shaped by immense pressure, expectation, and isolation. Boylan says exploring those layers was one of the most important parts of bringing the character to life in Season 2.

“I am a villain girlie. I love writing villains. Azula was always a favorite character of mine, so I wanted to honor the journey that she goes through,” Boylan says. “One of the first things I said to the writers and then to the actors was, ‘Growth is not a straight line.’ It’s very important to me to show that these are all real people  … [and] all of that comes to bear with Azula in particular because she goes through so much. I’m very protective of Azula.”

Somewhere in Queens

Iroh is a retired Fire Nation general and former Crown Prince, older brother to Fire Lord Ozai and uncle to Prince Zuko. Once destined for the throne himself, he now lives in exile alongside Zuko, trading court intrigue for tea shops, even as his experience with the Fire Nation’s war and royal family continues to shape the choices they both face in the Earth Kingdom.

The Mandalorian

Fire Lord Sozin is the long‑dead ruler of the Fire Nation who began the Hundred Year War, infamously using Sozin’s Comet to launch a devastating campaign against the other nations and wipe out the Air Nomads. In Season 2, his legacy looms large as the comet’s return approaches, forcing Aang and the others to confront not just a date on the horizon, but the original vision of conquest that Ozai now seeks to finish.

Star Trek: Discovery

Ty Lee is a bubbly acrobat turned chi‑blocking fighter, whose playful energy and pinpoint strikes make her one of Azula’s most unpredictable and dangerous allies.

The Baby-Sitters Club

Mai is a deadpan knife‑thrower from Fire Nation nobility and one of Azula’s closest companions, meeting every crisis with precision but also with a bored nonchalance that hides her feelings.

Council of Dads, Station 19

A decorated young Fire Nation officer, General Vinh Tran is unexpectedly elevated in rank to lead a crucial campaign, placing him at the center of shifting ambitions within the royal family.

 Sonic the Hedgehog

Once a high‑ranking Fire Nation officer, Jeong Jeong now lives among Fire Nation refugees in the Earth Kingdom, carrying the weight of the world he walked away from.

Almost Famous, The Expanse

King Kuei is the sheltered ruler of Ba Sing Se.

Century Egg, Radiochrome

Long Feng is the calculating Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom’s capital. 

Mortal Kombat, Skyscraper, Ghost in the Shell

General Sung commands the Earth Kingdom forces at the great outer wall. She’s a seasoned soldier who understands just how close the Fire Nation really is to Ba Sing Se.

Boiling Point, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Lieutenant Khettry serves on the front lines at Ba Sing Se’s outer wall, caught between his duty to defend the city and the increasingly complicated orders coming from above.

Shōgun, Something in the Water

Joo Dee is Team Avatar’s polite, always smiling guide to the city.

The Handmaid's Tale, IT: Chapter 2

Suki is the confident, highly skilled leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. She’s now taking her training beyond Kyoshi Island to protect villages and refugees across the Earth Kingdom. In Season 2, her path crosses with Team Avatar again — she brings both her disciplined fighting style and a quietly complicated connection with Sokka into a much larger war.

All I Ever Wanted

Living in Ba Sing Se under his own name, Sai is a brilliant engineer whose work with the stars and machines accidentally places him at the center of the Fire Nation’s long‑range plans.

DuckTales

Teo is the Mechanist’s idealistic, flight‑obsessed son whose ingenuity and courage help carry the fight against the Fire Nation into the skies.

Jane

Jet is a charismatic young freedom fighter whose arrival in Ba Sing Se brings his relentless war against the Fire Nation into the heart of the Earth Kingdom’s capital.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Smellerbee is one of Jet’s most trusted companions, a sharp and loyal fighter who follows him from the forests into the streets of Ba Sing Se.

Longshot is an archer with unerring aim, offering steady backup to Jet and Smellerbee as they navigate the hidden dangers of life in the city.

Amita is a refugee from Omashu trying to rebuild her life in Ba Sing Se. Her faith in small acts of courage and old river‑spirit stories resonates deeply with Katara.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, Love Happens
 

Jin is a warm‑hearted Ba Sing Se local whose kindness and curiosity offer a rare glimpse of ordinary city life to a certain boy from the tea shop.

Yellowjackets, The Last of Us

The Cabbage Merchant is a long‑suffering vendor whose beloved cabbages seem destined to be destroyed whenever Team Avatar and the chaos of the war pass through town.

Stillwater, Avatar: The Last Airbender

King Bumi is the eccentric, centuries‑old ruler of Omashu and one of the most powerful earthbenders in the world. In Season 2, even as his city falls under Fire Nation control, he remains several steps ahead of everyone else. He offers Aang unconventional wisdom about patience, timing, and the true strength behind standing still.

Ghosts

Yangchen is the Air Nomad Avatar who came before Aang, offering calm, clear‑eyed guidance as he struggles with the burden and risks of the Avatar’s power.

Severance, Jurassic World: Dominion

Avatar Kyoshi is a legendary past Avatar known for her towering presence, decisive action, and unwavering belief that justice sometimes requires hard lines. In Season 2, her legacy and writings challenge Aang and others to reconsider what balance really means when the world is at war.

Kung Fu, Family Law

Avatar Kuruk is a previous Avatar whose seemingly carefree exterior hid a history marked by spiritual loss and regret. His story in Season 2 serves as a cautionary example for Aang of what can happen when an Avatar underestimates the weight of their responsibilities.

Burden of Truth, Mohawk Girls

Avatar Roku is Aang’s immediate predecessor from the Fire Nation, a wise and burdened mentor who understands the origins of the current war better than anyone. In Season 2, his past choices and warnings continue to frame Aang’s struggle with Sozin’s legacy and the looming return of the comet.

For All Mankind, East New York

Wan Shi Tong is the Spirit of Knowledge, appearing as a towering owl who guards a vast hidden library filled with the world’s secrets. In Season 2, his domain becomes a crucial stop for Team Avatar as they seek information about the war, but his patience is wearing dangerously thin with humans using knowledge for conflict.

Kung Fu Panda, John Wick