Netflix announces live-action series based on 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'
Netflix revealed today that it will be adapting a live-action version of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender with original show runners Brian Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.
Avatar ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008 and has streamed on Netflix in the past.
In the animated version, Avatar: The Last Airbender is the story of Aang, the Avatar, a bridge between the human and spirit worlds. When an angry leader of the Fire Nation wipes out all of Aang's fellow air benders, he disappears for 100 years and returns again to restore balance to the world.
"We're thrilled for the opportunity to helm this live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We can't wait to realize Aang's world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast," Konietzko and DiMartino said in a joint statement through Netflix. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone's great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action, and world-building. Netflix is wholly dedicated to manifesting our vision for this retelling, and we're incredibly grateful to be partnering with them."
The Last Airbender (Season 1 of the show) was famously adapted into a poorly received film in 2012 and received backlash for casting white characters in the lead roles and people of color as villains (based on the cartoon alone, this was the opposite of the creators' vision).
The Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series will start production in 2019.
Topics Netflix
Proma Khosla is a Senior Entertainment Reporter writing about all things TV, from ranking Bridgerton crushes to composer interviews and leading Mashable's stateside coverage of Bollywood and South Asian representation. You might also catch her hosting video explainers or on Mashable's TikTok and Reels, or tweeting silly thoughts from @promawhatup.
