Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Azula Talks Her Character’s Return

In Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, Aang and his fellow benders were brought back to the screen as full-blown adults, taking on a new threat to the world. With a new airbender unearthed from a crystal prison quite close to Aang’s imprisonment, the animated film faced some major challenges in saving Republic City. While quite a few heroes made a comeback, some villains from the original Avatar: The Last Airbender didn’t make a return in the film. Azula, princess of the Fire Nation, did not return in the recent Paramount+ movie, and her voice actor has some thoughts on her potential comeback.

At a recent convention, the original voice actor for Azula, Grey DeLisle does not want her character to come back and find redemption. While the last time we saw the Princess was with her behind bars, locked away following the fall of Fire Lord Ozai, Avatar graphic novels hinted at the idea that Azula might find peace in the future thanks to the search for her mother. When asked about her preference for heroes versus villains, DeLisle went with the latter: “Villains, of course; heroes are so boring. People want to give Azula a redemption arc, and it’s just like ‘can we just have a villain, please?’ All the villains are disappearing; they all have some backstory where you’re supposed to feel bad for them.”

Azula’s Adventures Post Airbender

While Azula would never return in the likes of The Legend of Korra and/or Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, Zuko’s sister would return in various graphic novels that were released following the end of the original series. One of the biggest mysteries that was never answered in the original series was the fate of Zuko and Azula’s mother, with the former realizing that he needed to find Ursa. In a shocking twist, the former prince turned Fire Lord brings Azula along in the events of the graphic novel trilogy, The Search. Eventually, Zuko finds his mother with Azula, with the nefarious firebender fleeing her brother to avoid confinement and find herself.

In 2023’s Azula in The Spirit Temple, the one-shot graphic novel sees Zuko’s sister still attempting to find herself, walking a fine line between redemption and her fiery disposition. To date, the ultimate fate of Azula remains a mystery, as many bending fans are still questioning what happened to the character. Later this year, a new chapter of Nickelodeon’s successful franchise will return with Avatar: Seven Havens, a series taking place following the events of The Legend of Korra. More than likely, Azula would be dead by this point, far into the future, though the upcoming sequel series might reveal what ultimately happened to Zuko’s sibling and whether she ultimately found redemption.