Dallas Liu Breaks Down Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Scene That Made Him 'Bawl His Eyes Out Crying'

The seventh episode of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2, "Something Broken," ends on an action-packed climax. In the Crystal Catacombs, avatar Aang (Gordon Cormier) and his friend Katara (Kiawentiio) battle against Fire Nation siblings Azula (Elizabeth Yu) and Zuko (Dallas Liu) in a dramatic showdown of the four elements. But despite the fight sequences, the episode is perhaps going to be remembered primarily for its quieter, more emotional scenes. And two of the most emotional scenes belong to Zuko. 

In one of them, Zuko finally has a face-to-face exchange with his younger sister Azula. After halting her attack on him, the princess does something completely unexpected. "I'm sorry," she says. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay quiet that night in the carriage." In the live-action series' flashbacks, their mother Ursa is taken away by soldiers as she attempts to escape the Fire Nation with her children. 

"It's so out-of-character for [Azula]," Dallas Liu told TV Guide of the apology. The siblings' relationship is one that the 24-year-old actor has thought heavily about. "Even though Zuko may seem very annoyed with her and angry at her, it's all a front," Liu said. "He loves her so deeply." 

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Another emotionally charged interaction takes place earlier in the episode, when Zuko and Katara are locked together in a cavern. Katara breaks into tears after lashing out that the Fire Nation took her mother away. In response, Zuko says that's something they have in common. He then shares about his past — and his scar — with a new level of vulnerability. "My father did this to me," Zuko says. "Do you know how hard it is for a Firebender to get burned?"

"That was definitely one of my favorite experiences working on a show as an actor," Liu said of filming the exchange with Kiawentiio. "These are the scenes that you print out to take to acting class, and rehearse and try to become better."

In an interview with TV Guide ahead of the live-action series' premiere, Liu spoke in-depth about both of these moments in the show and why one of them moved him to tears. He also opened up about what it was like watching himself in Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender's first season — "I looked back and it was very, very hard to be proud of the work that I did," he said —  and how the experience gave him drive for approaching Season 2. 

In the animated series, Zuko famously sides with Azula at the end of Book 2. Did you view his decision differently, when you first watched that scene in the animated series compared to when you inhabited the character and lived through the events of Season 2 as him? 
Dallas Liu: When I watched the cartoon as a kid, I knew how deep of a betrayal that was just because he shared such a traumatic story with Katara. Zuko isn't quite someone that opens up, so the fact that he hasn't talked to his uncle about it but actually chose to outwardly speak and share the pain with Katara was very interesting to me. 

Now that I'm getting to play that scene out with Lizzy (Elizabeth Yu) playing Azula — that betrayal, I [realized] how difficult of a decision that was and how painful it was for Zuko to have to hear his sister talk about [their past.] Because it's one thing for Zuko to share his pain, but it's another thing for Azula to share her pain with Zuko. After having that conversation [with Katara], he thought he knew what he wanted to do. And now that Azula came forward herself, and instead of killing him, apologized — of all things — for what happened in the carriage that night, I know that hurt me so bad. Because after we shot that scene, I went to the tent, and I just started bawling my eyes out crying. 

There were people in the green room, so Lizzy, our acting coach, and our producer were like, "You OK, what's wrong? That was great." I didn't realize how much it hurt Zuko to hear that apology. It's not that he necessarily blames her for it, but it's the fact that he felt like Azula was taking responsibility for that night, not knowing that it wasn't her fault. [By the way,] this is Zuko's perspective. [Azula] could be like, "I was totally just playing with his feelings." But for Zuko, as an older brother, he understands that, one, he missed a lot of time to take care of her growing up. And he loves her so deeply, so the fact that the younger sibling came to him to apologize for something that they both lost that was out of their control was absolutely gut-tearing. 

That sounds like such an emotional day of filming. 
Liu: It totally was. Me and Lizzy have so much fun off-camera, but especially that day, we decided the night before to stay separate for most of the day. But what was interesting was, we were so nervous coming into the day. We walked into the makeup trailers, we didn't say hi to each other, we did our hair and makeup, we didn't say anything to each other, we're listening to our music — taking it serious, this matters, this is important. 

They were like, "OK, we're gonna start with all of the fighting today." And we were like, [makes a shocked face]. Because while you're still in character, there's so much physical energy [stored up], and I felt like that was something I wanted going into the day. But we went maybe all the way until post-lunch doing the fight choreography. Then we had the end of the day to do the scene, and we were gassed. Obviously emotionally, because we were doing the fighting, and then physically, at some point, I remember not being able to hold myself up in the push-up position because I was supposed to come up as she holds onto my neck and chokes me. I remember having a hard time trying to stand up. So I was physically gassed, but I think it made the scene all that much better because it translates to the story.

Zuko and Katara being locked together in the cavern is definitely one of my favorite moments of the season. What did you most want to portray there?
Liu: Oh, man. I wanted to just get it right. The animated series, you're never gonna be able to top that because that is the original blueprint for what our TV show is. However, I do think there are different avenues you can take in telling that same story while still capturing the humanity of these characters and the experience that it was watching the cartoon for the first time. 

Especially working with Hiromi [Kamata], who directed an episode of Shōgun, she was one of the most wonderful directors that I got to work with. She had the best bullsh-t meter. I remember talking to her for the first time, and she just laid it to me straight, "This is what I think we should do." Even on set she was like, "I didn't like it. Try a different way." She was very much mentally there with me in that experience. To have a director that is that passionate, especially about scenes that are still, that are quiet, yet very emotionally passionate, it makes you want to elevate your performance that much more. 

Me and Kiawentiio got to rehearse that, work on those scenes with the acting coach. And Kiawentiio, wonderful scene partner, I know how much she loved this scene as well from the cartoon. So we're kind of putting maybe a little bit too much pressure on ourselves to get this right. But I think we both know the version of the characters that we created so well that on the day it just came so naturally. Me and Kiawentiio, it feels like our characters had this unspoken chemistry together when they were talking, and nothing felt forced, nothing felt over-rehearsed which is all you can ask for.

I think the coolest part of that day was we got to shoot all of those scenes in order in one day. So our characters got the entire experience of what it would have really been like. And I hope people like it. Because it is similar to the cartoon in my opinion, it's not one-for-one, but what would a live-action be if it was a one-for-one remake? And I'm really thankful for the details that we got to add in our show. You don't get to hear Zuko speak about his mom in the cartoon like you do in our show. I think the addition of Azula in Season 1, and then the addition of Ursa in Season 2 has really made a difference for us, and to give the backstories of the Fire Nation siblings? I'm gonna dab! [Dabs.] 

I'm a Shōgun stan, so that's very cool hearing about you working with the director.
Liu: Man! If I was Japanese, I would love to be on that show.

What are your thoughts on the Zuko and Katara scene now? I rewatched it many times. 
Liu: I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but to be fair, I've only watched it once. And then I was like, "OK, I'm done. I can't look at it anymore." Otherwise, I'm gonna start being like, "Why did I do that with my mouth?" Or, my nostrils flared. That's what happened to me Season 1. I was watching it way too much, and I was really hard on myself. But I think that allowed actually for a really strong motivation to be better.

How many times did you watch Season 1, and what would you say was your biggest takeaway that you applied to filming Seasons 2 and 3?
Liu: Season 1, it's not necessarily that I was watching it a lot, but it was coming up on my feed all the time, I couldn't avoid it. I'm not gonna block the content from my own show, because that also kind of feels like a weird egotistic thing. And so I was seeing it a lot, and then I would go on Netflix and watch it. Truly, I don't think I did very well, and so it was a huge learning experience. This is also just me being hard on myself, because if you meet anyone in my life, that's one thing they'll probably tell you about me. But I always want to be better, even if it's good, great, awesome. I think in anything you do, there's always room for improvement, and so especially having shot that at 20 years old, and then it coming out when I'm 23 — not only did I feel like I grew as an actor that time, but as a human being. I looked back and it was very, very hard to be proud of the work that I did. So it gave me a lot of drive for Season 2. 

Have you watched all of Season 2? How do you feel about it?
Liu: Not bad, not bad. I'm really proud of everyone else, that's a lot easier for me to say. I think everyone really kicked it up a notch, and not just the cast, [but] our production teams. We all came in knowing the identity of our show after having the first season come out, on where we could improve, some things that we could get rid of, add. This season, the showrunners, directors, writers, they were very, very collaborative with us which I was extremely grateful for, because we did play these characters for so long. Hearing our opinion was important to them.

I love what you shared in our interview about suggesting the sleeveless look for his fight in the Crystal Catacombs.
Liu: Another one that I did, actually: In [the episode] "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" in the animated series, he goes on a date with Jin. You get a little glimpse of it, but I had worked with one of our writers to add in some dialogue on the day. I was like, I really would love for them to just have a little walk-and-talk. It was really cute, because in the animated series, Zuko does this little comb over. And in the show, if you pay attention, you can see I asked the head of our hair department to do a little comb over for Zuko for a little nod to the cartoon. But [Jin] actually acknowledges it in the scene that we shot. She's like, "Oh, you did your hair, it looks nice today." I was like, "Oh, thanks, my uncle did it." It was just so much fun getting to do it. Even if it didn't make the final cut, having that in my memory is nice to have.

Zuko is known for having one of the best redemption arcs ever and having such rich character development. Do you have concerns that future roles will be hard to top? 
Liu: This was definitely the most fulfilling opportunity that I've gotten to take part in as an actor. I think as Dallas, I'm happy to play any role if it means it's this fleshed out. There are so many details that go into it, so much life and energy. It's not going to be hard to top, but I think when you've gotten to play a character for this long, it'll always hold a special place in your heart.

The live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix.