Avatar: The Last Airbender was always meant to end with Aang and Katara together. From the moment the young Avatar was freed from the ice, creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko built up their relationship as the water bender became the one member of the Gaang he could lean on the most for support. All the battles and adventures across the four nations eventually culminated in the final scene of Book 3, where, with the war with the Fire Nation finally behind them, they sealed their love with a kiss. However, fans have always envisioned Katara hooking up with a different suitor in a perfect enemies-to-lovers scenario — Zuko. Even over 20 years since the series premiered, Zutara hopes are still alive, and, at Fan Expo Denver, Dante Basco and Mae Whitman were all too ready to lean into them. Well, at least Basco was.
In a panel hosted by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt at the event, the cast of ATLA was asked about the filler episode or story they’d most like to see told about their character. Whitman expressed interest in “Something romantic, you know what I’m saying? I don’t care with who.” That said, she wasn’t going to be the one to address the Zutara-shaped elephant in the room, especially knowing that was exactly where Basco was going to head with his answer. “I’m not getting into it,” she continued. “I’m not… this is a trap, and I am not gonna fall into it finally after 20 years. I have learned. I refuse. He’ll say it, he’ll go for it, he’ll give you what you want. I can’t do it.” Although he initially played coy, he eventually gave the fans what they wanted. “A Zutara episode somewhere?” he answered. “Like, the cave. Can we make the cave a longer episode?”
Interest in seeing Katara and Zuko get together ramped up when they were imprisoned in the Crystal Catacombs of Ba Sing Se in Book 2. It’s the first time Katara really gets to see him as more than just the enemy, as they connect over how the Fire Nation has destroyed their families, and Katara even offers to heal his scar using water from the North Pole’s spirit oasis. Alas, Aang and Iroh burst through the wall before they could go further, but Whitman is all for the idea of “More caves,” as is Basco. “More cave! What happened in the cave?” he questioned. “Like, a little longer cave episode. Just a little longer. 22 minutes longer. Maybe? I don’t know. Filler? We don’t know!“
Mae Whitman Believes Zuko Would Be a Great “First Boyfriend”
After everyone else answered and Basco and Michaela Jill Murphy got together on a “field trip” idea for Zuko and Toph, Basco was given a devilish either-or — Zutara becomes canon, or Jet, the rogueishly-charming fan-favorite who died upon leading Team Avatar to Lake Laogai, lives. Ultimately, he decided to bring Jet back to life, but he had to get a bit conspiratorial about whether the former Freedom Fighter was still alive. He also had to weigh the realities of how Zutara would change the course of the Avatar franchise, particularly with the role Aang and Katara’s children play in Avatar: The Legend of Korra and with the succeeding Avatar herself:
“This is the thing, Jet is like the Tupac or like Elvis of Avatar… It’s like anywhere in Ba Sing Se, people are like, ‘I think I saw Jet.’ Like, is he dead, is he not dead? We saw him around like walking around Ba Sing Se, ‘I think I saw him!’ All these reports of Jet alive, we don’t know! [Laughs] Like, I like Jet. He has a tender spot in my heart. The thing is, if Zutara works, then we have no Korra… (or a different Korra.) I could ship Zutara, but sometimes… sometimes that soulmate, you’re not supposed to end up with them.”
Like Basco, Whitman understood the connection after the Catacombs. “I feel the vibes in the cave,” she admitted. “I feel it. There was a flame there. I feel like they could’ve snuck in a kiss.” That said, she doesn’t see Zuko and Katara working out as forever partners, but she does believe in the notion of having multiple “great loves” in life. While she’s with Aang at the end of Avatar, her relationship with and trust in Zuko are greater than ever. If they had gotten together, Whitman envisioned him as the perfect “bad boy” type of boyfriend for Katara to experience before settling down with her true best partner and friend for the long haul, Aang:
“This is what I always say is like, look, you can have more than one great love in your life. Like, how great is Zuko as a first boyfriend? He’s on the motorcycle. He’s like bad, super cool… Your dad’s like, ‘I don’t like that guy.’ And then, you’re like, wow, I really learned a lot. That was a wild ride there. I loved being a teenager. I’m tired. I wanna go to bed early. I wanna watch TV with my friend on the couch and, you know, the order in, and then that’s really more of an Aang situation. Maybe that’s where you go at that point, you’re on the couch and in your 30s.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently streaming on Netflix and Paramount+.