Watch the new Avatar: The Last Airbender cast sing ‘Secret Tunnel’

For the cast of Netflix’s new live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, fandom of the original animated series runs deep. 

Case in point: Gordon Cormier (Aang), Dallas Liu (Zuko), Kiawentiio (Katara), and Ian Ousley (Sokka) all burst into a giggly rendition of the fan-favorite tune “Secret Tunnel” during EW's latest cover shoot.

“Two lovers, forbidden from one another/ A war divides their people/ And a mountain divides them apart…”

The song originally appeared in the second episode of Book Two: Earth, sung by the nomad Chong (Dee Bradley Baker). “Secret Tunnel” is a roundabout (and irritating, if you’re Sokka) way of sharing directions to Omashu, and its repetitive and laughably simple chorus has cemented itself as something of an inside joke in the Avatar fandom. 

“I think that it’s like a song that you heard when you were like 9 years old,” Ousley says. “Like a Katy Perry song. I feel like as soon as it starts going, I’m gonna be like ‘Wait, how do I know all the words to this?’”

Chong also notably forgets the lyrics to the middle portion of the song. Ousley and Kiawentiio are so familiar with the scene that they also the character’s forgetfulness, simultaneously saying, “And I forget how the rest goes.” 

Of course, Chong later remembers that the forgotten line adds an ominous undertone to the rest of the song: The one lyric he forgot was apparently “and die.”

Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres Thursday, Feb. 22, on Netflix. Read EW’s full cover story here.

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