M. Night sees the light or at least the FIRE!!

One of the worst casting choices in recent memory has just been reversed and I couldn't be more happy. As you may already know M. Night Shyamalan's next project is the live-action Avatar the Last Airbender trilogy. I'll reserve judgement on the merits of turning a stellar series with hours upon hours of amazing storytelling into a roughly 6-8 hour trilogy (I'm guessing on the duration, here). Anyway, on to the exciting reversal! It had been announced that Jesse McCartney (American-born pop singer) would be filling the role of tormented Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko.

This is Jesse McCartney...


...This is Prince Zuko.

More after the jump.

Anyway, the kid from Slumdog Millionaire Dev Patel (pictured below) will now be filling the pointy shoes of the banished Prince.

I suppose my gripe was that the kids in the series are all at least vaguely Asian and I thought it would be a disservice to cast a bunch of American actors in these parts. Ill admit that Dev Patel isn't what I had in mind but at least hes from the right continent! Now all Patel has to do is bulk up, shave his head (save for a topknot) and burn half his face off! By the way, I was able to get an exclusive first look of what Appa (aka Appalito) and Momo (aka Adrian) will look like in the live-action movie! Here it is...