One thing about me is that I love Avatar the Last Airbender. From its amazing and full of depth characters to its heartfelt themes, the show will forever hold a special place in my heart. With it being such a treasure, it’s no wonder Netflix wants to capitalize off of it. In February 2024, Netflix plans to release its live-action version of Avatar the Last Airbender. I, like many others, feel a mixture of nervousness and excitement for what Netflix has in store.
Avatar the Last Airbender fans have already had to suffer the 2010 atrocity that was The Last Airbender movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Compared to its 100% Rotten Tomatoes-rated source material, the film racked itself 5%. I do not know a single person who liked this movie. But, in talking about Netflix’s new live-action take, this is kind of good? I mean the bar is in hell. How can the new live-action possibly be worse than having to watch five earthbenders do dance choreography to move a rock in slow motion?
The movie gets a lot of criticism beyond just that scene. Criticism for its whitewashing, rushed plot, and changes to the source material — there’s more but those are just the major issues. With how dirty we were done, it makes sense for us ATLA fans to feel apprehension about the new live-action adaptation.
In my opinion, things are looking like a mixture of good and bad regarding Netflix’s adaptation. Good: the majority of the casting. Netflix paid attention to the races of the characters they were adapting and the casting reflects that (for the most part). There is a whole ongoing fiasco regarding the casting of Sokka (a character of Inuit descent) since apparently, the actor lied about being Native American during the casting. A lot of people are understandably hurt, considering how underrepresented Native American people are in mainstream media. Besides that, for the most part, people are happy with the casting. I think the casting for Aang specifically is perfect. I actually got kind of emotional when his actor got released because I found him so perfect for the role. One thing about me is that I love Aang. I think about him for more than 30 seconds and I start getting teary-eyed.
More positive news, the trailer looks…pretty freaking cool. I got chills when I heard the original music towards the end. I almost started crying, so let it be known that ATLA makes me very emotional. Not only did it look cool, it looked expensive. From the CGI of our favorite flying bison Appa to the set designs, an airbender must have appeared, because I am rather blown away! Prepare to get your socks knocked off, as the live-action reportedly cost $15 million per episode. That is crazy and most importantly, it’s what ATLA deserves.
From the teaser alone, the acting looks pretty great. I also like the character designs and how faithful they are to the show. Lastly, and most importantly, the teaser makes it seem like they are also sticking faithfully to the show’s plot.
Okay. Onto the bad. The official creators of the show, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, both left the Netflix project in 2020 due to creative differences. Hearing this news back in 2020 felt like a nail in the coffin to the adaptation for me. But now that the teaser has been released it looks actually kind of promising, and I do not know how to feel. How can I trust that the source material will be properly honored when the original creators felt unheard by Netflix while creating the project…sigh. It is known that the live-action plans on bringing a more mature take to the original PG animated series. While that is fear-invoking, it is also intriguing. ATLA aired on Nickelodeon and garnered to kids, but it deals with a number of serious and dark topics, so to have the freedom to explore those topics deeper is cool. But “creative differences” feels beyond just going deeper into pre-existing storylines so it still sucks to hear the original creators felt they had to leave.
For my own well-being, I plan on keeping my expectations for Netflix’s live-action ATLA relatively low. Hopefully, the series will pleasantly surprise me, but I am not betting on that to be the case. Netflix’s track record for live-action adaptations ranges from Death Note to One Piece: laughably bad to actually pretty good. With faith, I can say the teaser trailer shows promise in this adaptation being cool. I can and will put my bets on the edits to this show going hard. So with that being said and me knowing this live-action will not affect my undying love for the original animated series, I will be tuning in.