Paul Sun-Hyung Lee knows what it’s like to live inside other people’s imaginations. As Uncle Iroh in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, he stepped into one of the most beloved roles in modern fantasy—equal parts tea philosopher, warm uncle, and former warlord with a body count. No pressure.
“I didn’t want to be a bad copy of the animated character,” Lee said. “Mako’s voice is iconic—comforting and powerful at the same time. I knew I couldn’t mimic him. That would have been foolish and disrespectful. My job was to bring depth, humor, and love, to make him a three-dimensional living being.”
Fans had already cast him in the role years before Netflix did. “As soon as they announced the adaptation in 2018, people went, ‘Oh, you’re Uncle Iroh.’ Asian, bald, beard—it was inevitable,” he laughed. But he resisted being reduced to a look or an accent. “With Kim’s Convenience, I used my dad’s voice. That was lived experience. With Iroh, I wanted to honor the spirit of the character without falling into mimicry or stereotype.”
Lee went deep into Iroh’s contradictions: the nurturing uncle who once laid siege to a city for 600 days. “He’s not clean either,” Lee said. “He’s on a redemption arc. That complexity—that’s what makes the story richer than just good guys and bad guys.”
It’s that same complexity that makes Avatar stick. “It’s great storytelling, with characters people see themselves in. Every generation has their epic—Star Wars, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson. Avatar hit a whole generation during formative years. It imprinted on them.”
For Lee, who also popped up in the Star Wars galaxy as X-Wing pilot Carson Teva, it’s been a dream job for a lifelong nerd. “This is my jam. I grew up with this stuff, so slipping into fantasy dialogue is like a second tongue. Yeah, it can sound heightened or unnatural, but these are fantasy worlds. Shakespeare sounded ridiculous in his time too.”
He’s also learned a thing or two about fandoms now that he’s on the receiving end of their love and fury. “Fans have the best of intentions, but sometimes in their zeal to protect something, they forget there are human beings making these shows. I’m far more cautious now with criticism. Be kind—that’s my mantra.”
As for rumors that he was part of the canceled Rangers of the New Republic spinoff, Lee laughs that one off. “Nobody ever spoke to me about that. The fans just kind of did the heavy lifting on their own.”
In the meantime, he’s savoring the work. “John and Dave have woven me deeper into the Star Wars universe, and the fandom has embraced Iroh. Honestly, getting back on set doesn’t feel daunting. It feels like going home.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
