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Mica Withington
The news of The Last Airbender's title change arrives just as production on the show officially kicked off. The streaming giant also recently revealed more of Avatar's cast. Lim Kay Siu (Anna and the King, Nightwatch) will play Gyatso, an Air Nomad monk who serves as Avatar Aang's mentor and father figure; Ken Leung (Lost, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will play Commander Zhao, a Fire Nation commander who aims to capture the Avatar to increase his standing in his Nation's imperialist hierarchy; and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim's Convenience, The Mandalorian) will portray Iroh, uncle and guide to the exiled Prince Zuko.
Leading Avatar's cast is Gordon Cormier (The Stand), who will portray the titular last airbender, Avatar Aang. Kiawentiio (Anne with an E) and Ian Ousley (13 Reasons Why) will portray Water Tribe siblings Katara and Sokka, respectively, and Prince Zuko will be played by Dallas Liu, who previously appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, PEN15 and Players. Daniel Dae Kim of Lost and Hawaii Five-O fame will portray Fire Lord Ozai, father to Zuko and the overarching antagonist of the series. Following his casting, Kim shared a behind-the-scenes photo of himself amidst his prep work for the role.
Netflix announced Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2018, promising a faithful adaptation of the beloved Nickelodeon series, which ran for three seasons between 2005-2008. Despite the original Avatar creators departing the live-action series over creative differences, Netflix moved forward with showrunner/executive producer/writer Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow, Nikita) at the helm. Rounding out the creative team are executive producers Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore and Michael Goi, along with co-executive producer Roseanne Liang. Goi and Liang are set to direct some of the episodes, as is Lost in Space's Jabbar Raisani.
Avatar: The Last Airbender does not yet have a release date, but all three seasons of the original cartoon are available to stream on Netflix in the United States, as is Korra and the 2010 live-action movie The Last Airbender.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American adventure fantasy television series developed by Albert Kim for Netflix. It is a live-action adaptation of the animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelodeon. The series stars an ensemble cast including Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Ken Leung, and Daniel Dae Kim.
The series is set in a fictional world where human civilization is divided into four nations based on the four classical elements: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. In each nation, some people known as "benders" can telekinetically manipulate one of the four elements. The story follows the journey of twelve-year-old Avatar Aang, the last survivor of the Air Nomads and the next "Avatar" who can master all four elements, awoken after a century of being frozen in ice. The series was first announced in September 2018, with DiMartino and Konietzko attached as both executive producers and showrunners. However, in June 2020, the pair departed the series over creative differences. In August 2021, Kim was officially announced as a writer, executive producer and showrunner.
In 2018, Netflix announced that a "reimagined" live-action remake of Avatar was to start production in 2019.[47][48] The series' original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, were initially announced to be the executive producers and showrunners.[49][50] In June 2020, the creators departed the series due to creative differences. This was revealed after DiMartino published an open letter on his own website on August 12, 2020. The pair cited differences in their approach to the show compared with Netflix's vision, also citing a "negative and unsupporting" environment during their time with the studio;[51][52][53][54] the duo ultimately received writing credits for the first and sixth episodes.[55]
In August 2021, Albert Kim was officially announced as a writer, executive producer and showrunner; he commented in a blog post: "My first thought was, 'Why? What is there I could do or say with the story that wasn't done or said in the original?' But the more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. We'll be able to see bending in a real and visceral way we've never seen before."[56] In the same post, Kim emphasized that "throughout this process, our byword has been 'authenticity'. To the story. To the characters. To the cultural influences. Authenticity is what keeps us going, both in front of the camera and behind it." Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore, Michael Goi, and Roseanne Liang were also announced as executive producers with Goi and Liang both directing episodes of the series.[57][56] In the first season, each episode reportedly cost more than $15 million to make.[58]
On March 6, 2024, the series was renewed for a second and third season, with it set to conclude with the latter.[59] On April 4, 2024, it was announced that Kim would be stepping down as showrunner but would remain as an executive producer, while co-executive producer Christine Boylan and executive producer Jabbar Raisani would become showrunners for the second and third seasons.[60]
Prior to their departure, DiMartino and Konietzko had revealed that they are committed to "culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed casting" according to a statement from Konietzko.[61] Konietzko had said that he was hoping to include Dante Basco, the original voice actor who played Zuko.[62] In August 2021 following leaked casting reports, Netflix revealed the show's cast for the main four characters: Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley and Dallas Liu as Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko respectively.[56] Kim felt that "this was a chance to showcase Asian and Indigenous characters as living, breathing people. Not just in a cartoon, but in a world that truly exists, very similar to the one we live in."[63] In November 2021, Daniel Dae Kim, who previously voiced General Fong in the animated series and later Hiroshi Sato in The Legend of Korra, joined the cast of the series as Fire Lord Ozai.[8] Later that month, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Lim Kay Siu, and Ken Leung joined the cast of the series, playing Iroh, Gyatso, and Commander Zhao respectively.[7] In December, Elizabeth Yu, Yvonne Chapman, Tamlyn Tomita, Casey Camp-Horinek and Maria Zhang were added to the cast, respectively playing Azula, Avatar Kyoshi, Yukari (a new character added as Suki's mother in replacement of the mayor of Kyoshi Island), Gran Gran and Suki.[11]
In April 2022, Arden Cho and Momona Tamada joined the cast as June and Ty-Lee.[33][18] Later that month, C. S. Lee was cast as Avatar Roku.[38] In June 2022, A Martinez and Amber Midthunder were cast as Master Pakku and Princess Yue respectively.[41][20] In July 2022, it was revealed that James Sie would reprise his role as the Cabbage Merchant from the animated series.[30] In September 2022, more additional roles were announced, with two of them being George Takei as the voice of Koh the Face Stealer and Randall Duk Kim as the voice of Wan Shi Tong. Takei previously voiced the Fire Nation Prison Rig Warden in the animated series, while Duk Kim had a minor role in the 2010 live-action film The Last Airbender.[64]
Production and filming began in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 16, 2021.[65][66] The series was filmed under the working titles Trade Winds and Blue Dawn. Principal photography wrapped on June 17, 2022.[67][57][68][7][69] Stewart Whelan served as a cinematographer.[70]
Jeremy Zuckerman, who composed music for the original show, was originally set to return to compose the music for the remake[72] but later denied his involvement with the show after DiMartino and Konietzko left the project.[73] The music was recorded at Synchron Stage in Vienna with the Synchron Stage Orchestra and Choir. In addition of being recorded in different places, including London at Angel Studios and Budapest as East Connection Music Recording.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season 59% approval rating based on 75 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Avatar: The Last Airbender serves as a solid live-action entry point into the beloved franchise, although it only sporadically recaptures the magic of its source material."[80] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[81]
Netflix has a number of live-action adaptations for beloved anime and animated properties in different stages of production. Cowboy Bebop is set to hit the streaming platform November 19, 2021, the main cast of the live-action One Piece was recently announced, and Avatar: The Last Airbender continues to add to their own cast.
Now he will be bringing the major antagonist in Avatar: The Last Airbender to life, but how this character will come into play during the first season is still a mystery especially given the fact that Fire Lord Ozai was not seen, other than as a silhouette or in flashbacks, until the third season of the original animated series.
The beloved animated series first aired on Nickelodeon in 2005 and lasted for three seasons. But since then it has grown into a massive franchise spanning two animated series, tie in novels, comic books, and video games, with even more to come. Netflix will be adding to the legacy with the live-action reimagining of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but fans will also be able to experience new animated content as well.
After the original creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender left the live-action reimagining due to creative difference it was announced that Nickelodeon was launching Avatar Studios. Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the original animated series executive producers and creators will serve as co-chief creative officers of Avatar Studios. The studio will bring new animated series and animated films to fans with the first project announced being an animated theatrical film.
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