The co-creators of the hit Nickelodeon shows Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have recently come back together and formed Avatar Studios to create more content from that universe. The possibilities are endless and fans are stoked about what is to come. Avatar’s popularity revived nearly ten years after it originally aired when it was released on Netflix last summer, bringing back memories and keeping us entertained during quarantine.
For those who have not yet seen the show, Avatar: The Last Airbender is about a world that is divided into the four nations: Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and the Air Nomads – each representing the element they bend. Only the Avatar can master the four elements. The next Avatar is a young airbender named Aang, who must master all four elements and defeat the ruler of the Fire Nation in order to restore balance to the world. The Legend of Korra is the second show that takes place 70 years after Avatar with Korra being the new Avatar, so I would recommend watching ATLA first.
Almost two years ago Netflix announced that they would be working with the co-creators in creating a live action version of the beloved show and fans were thrilled. Nickelodeon’s original three seasons, which ran from 2005 to 2008, was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. DiMartino and Konietzko were going to be the showrunners and creators for Netflix’s new series, which assured fans the new series was in good hands. But towards the end of last year, some bad news rubbed fans the wrong way. In a few posts, the co-creators broke the news that they were leaving the Netflix production altogether. According to both men, their creative vision for the live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series was not supported by Netflix.
“When Netflix brought me on board to run this series alongside Mike [DiMartino] two years ago, they made a very public promise to support our vision” Konietzko wrote. “Unfortunately there was no follow-through on that promise.” As a fan of the show, I’m honestly not surprised that Netflix took the reins and tried to take control of the project. Even with the creation of Avatar Studios, Netflix is still continuing with the project.
But with the news of Avatar Studios, many fans have expressed they would rather watch whatever comes from the co-creators rather than the Netflix adaptation, fearing Netflix will ruin what they grew up watching. I, myself am very excited to see what will become of Avatar Studios. They have already announced they are working on their first project which will be an animated theatrical film that will start production sometime later this year.
I personally would love to see the comics animated, either having a season or a movie for each comic. Many fans would love to see an adaptation of the past Avatars that came before Aang, or go more into the future after Korra. One Avatar in particular, Avatar Kyoshi, who has two novels written about her, is a fan favorite and I would love to see her in action. The creators of this beloved series have some high expectations from many fans, including myself, but anything will be better than the Netflix series (in my opinion ?).
One last thing, if you could bend any element what would it be? I’d be an airbender, but according to my zodiac I’d be the Avatar ?⛰️??