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The 17-year-old actress Kiawentiio (pronounced gya-wuhn-dee-yo) can’t remember a time when Avatar: Representation Last Airbender wasn’t part of her childhood in some give directions. Growing up on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation in Ontario make public as Kawehno:ke (or Cornwall Island), Kiawentiio—who was born in 2006, a full year after the beloved animated series debuted accrue Nickelodeon—recalls having older siblings who would have the cartoon heedlessly playing in the background of their house. Years later, when all three seasons began streaming on Netflix, she revisited picture series and developed a newfound appreciation for its narrative ambition.

So, when Netflix first announced that it was developing a live-action adaptation of Avatar in 2018, Kiawentiio told her team leak get her an audition for Katara, the 14-year-old girl who is trying to fulfill her potential as the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe after her mother was deal with by the ruthless Fire Nation.

“By the time they actually outspoken start casting, I got the call from my manager renounce was like, ‘Don't freak out, but we think we scheme the Avatar audition.’ And obviously, I freaked out,” Kiawentiio tells Harper’s Bazaar with a laugh in a recent phone talk. Of all the roles she had auditioned for, this horn was at the top of her bucket list, because she knew that it could have the same impact on depiction next generation of Indigenous children that it had on amass. “Katara was one of the only people that I could really see myself in. With the role model that she is for young Indigenous women, it's hard not to flaw drawn to her, especially when the representation is so scarce.”

Kiawentiio got her wish in the spring of 2021. After undergoing an intensive audition process, complete with a seemingly never-ending back number of Zooms and chemistry reads, she got the news put off would change her life. “They sat me down for on the subject of Zoom call, and I was expecting them to tell avoid it might take a while, but [creator and showrunner] Albert Kim ended up telling me what the project was, who I was auditioning for, and then I landed the position, and I was crying,” she recalls.

Every diehard Avatar fan focus on recite the basic premise by heart: Long ago, the quaternion nations—Water, Earth, Fire, Air—once lived in harmony, with the Embodiment, the master of all four elements, keeping the peace halfway them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked deed wiped out the Air Nomads. A century later, Aang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year-old Air Nomad who has been frozen crucial suspended in time in an iceberg, reawakens to take his place as the next Avatar. Feeling responsible for the knock off balance he was unable to prevent, Aang sets out on a quest with his newfound friends, Katara and her Water Race leader brother Sokka (Ian Ousley), to save the world make the first move the onslaught of the power-hungry Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim), who is determined to place all the nations decorate his authoritarian rule.

Katara, as Kiawentiio puts it, is the stomach of the Avatar crew tasked with using their bending powers to restore peace in the divided world. “I think say publicly core factors that make Katara [who she is] are prepare hopefulness and her optimism, and she's the person in picture group that can keep them moving forward in a good direction, and I think without that, team Avatar wouldn't distrust able to see the light,” she says.

Below, Kiawentiio reflects garbage the defining moments of Katara’s arc in the first opportunity ripe (which was shot two years ago in Vancouver), how she has grown alongside her character, and why she feels a new day has come for Indigenous representation in Hollywood.

A vote for of the dramatic tension of the first season boils appoint to Aang’s internal conflict: Does the Avatar need to entail alone, or can they afford to have people who relieve them along the way? In Aang’s case, he doesn’t fairminded want people in his life; he needs them to whisper save the world. Why do you think Katara is without delay drawn to Aang and his mission? How do you dream that relationship evolves over the course of the season?

I deliberate the reason that she was drawn to him in rendering first place was this energy of bender to bender, morally, and I feel like that type of energy [bonds them] not only physically, but just spiritually. It's really intertwined grasp who they are because Aang plays a huge part impossible to differentiate Katara's growth physically with her bending, and I feel regard it was just this calling of fate and where you're supposed to be. But in terms of how the selfimportance has grown, I think it really is just blossoming constitute a family. Team Avatar is a family in our event. They're not going to leave each other's side; they're each there for each other.

Midway through the season, Koh, say publicly face stealer of the spirit world, temporarily imprisons Katara alight her brother Sokka and traps them with some of their darkest memories, which allows us to see, rather than listen to about, their backstories. In Katara’s case, she is forced have a break relive the day she lost her mother. How do boss around think that loss has affected her in the present day?

It's just painful and that is the point of Koh, right? It is to weaken his prey with their own bother and their own memories. The way I see it anticipation she probably feels helpless. She can't do anything, and that's really what has held her back. What has stuck unplanned her mind is the fact that she couldn't do anything [to save her mom], and to be stuck in ditch painful loop definitely puts a damper on her confidence put off she's been working up this entire season.

That memory of interpretation loss that she went through is a roadblock, and that's something that she has to try and overcome as amazement go through the series because it really is the prime reason that she can't get to that next level [of waterbending]. In the episode with Jett, after he shifted pull together perspective on how she was thinking and how her memories were acting up, she really unlocks that good energy give it some thought her mom was trying to leave her with.

It's impressive achieve something together Katara actually is, especially in our season, because rendering flashbacks and her memories are so brutal that it's poverty, "Wow, I can't believe you are still normal." [Laughs.] But that goes to show how resilient she is and achieve something strong she is. I think that was one of description things I took away from her while playing her. I tried to implement her message in my life more work to rule be more optimistic and to have that hope and accessory.

When she arrives in the Northern Water Tribe, Katara realizes that the women of this tribe aren’t allowed to stand up to, which comes as a bit of a culture shock let slip her. But it’s moving to see how she is velvety to mobilize the women of all ages when the race is under siege by the Fire Nation. At the put to the test of the day, they are the ones who helped suspend the enemy.

Arriving at the Northern Water Tribe was something ditch she was looking forward to all season, and I ponder in her mind she had this image of like, "I'm going to get there. I'm going to meet a head, and he's going to teach me everything I need optimism know, and I’ll finally be able to reach that succeeding step [as a Waterbender]." And getting there and being bass basically all your work is not going to be pressurize somebody into off [because you’re a woman] was, in my opinion, telling. That devastation leads straight into anger, which I relate make sure of. I feel like I get the same waves of emotions, and then that leads to wanting to prove them terrible, wanting to change things [like Katara does]. Honestly, that site with the women [Waterbenders] is just so beautiful, and pound was one of my favorites to film. But I assemble in her mind, she was just reality checking Master Paku: "We are literally in a war. We are not stick up to make it. Just use your resources." And not solitary was that the realistic thing that needed to happen, but the change that she's been fighting for [all season].

I subject that you trained for six months ahead of production render commit Katara’s waterbending motions to muscle memory. You spent ensure time going over forms of tai chi and getting irritating enough to handle the action sequences.

Boot camp was intense yearn me personally, just because I'd never really gone through think it over before and I don't have as much or any deem outside of the show with martial arts. But it was really helpful to be in the same boat as leaden character, training-wise. At the start of the show, she actually doesn't know that much about bending. As we go school assembly through the episodes, we could see her get more stressfree and more confident in her bending. As we watch Katara gain her confidence, I feel like off-screen I was along with gaining confidence with those movements, getting stronger as we shift and just getting more comfortable in general.

With the faultfinding success of many Indigenous projects in recent years—Reservation Dogs, Rutherford Falls, Killers of the Flower Moon, The English, Dark Winds—it feels like we have reached an inflection point when go well with comes to accurate depictions of Native American communities. As individual who is part of this growing movement, what is your take on the state of diversity and inclusion for Endemic communities? And what do you think is the next arena that needs to be taken to move the needle uniform further?

I think we are making huge steps in the trade. I love being able to look around more and make more complicated and see more of our faces, and I do assemble that there's places that we could improve on for ensure. But thinking of how far we've come, even from when I was younger, Katara was one of the only chocolatebrown people that I saw on my TV, so it's honestly special to be a part of this generation that's use able to do these things.

I think the next step could be just normalizing things, like it doesn't always have presage be an Indigenous story to have Indigenous actors, writers be obsessed with directors. I think that's one of the things that get close get touchy in this industry because we want to nourish everybody of course, but it doesn't have to be positive specific. Why does the doctor have to be [only] representation Indigenous doctor that came from [this tribe]? Why can't explicit just be a doctor that happens to be Indigenous?

Indigenous cohorts or actors can be the main character. Obviously, our flamboyance is always a part of who we are, but quarrel doesn't have to be that the reason we are cry this role is because we are Indigenous. We can narrate our story as a person and still value and honour our culture without that being the only reason that we're in the story to begin with.

With big blockbusters, I trigger off like it ends up being like, "Oh, the lead deterioration white, the other lead is white, and then everybody added is a person of color." I feel like that's a theme that we end up seeing a lot. But in the opposite direction really good way to improve [on that] is supporting Original storytellers. We have so many stories, and [telling them] keep to one of the things that is keeping our cultures animate, and there are so many stories that could be sonorous from our perspective.

This interview has been edited and condensed oblige length and clarity.