Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming to Netflix in live-action form - and this is what we know so far about it.
When it comes to live-action adaptations of cartoons, the decade has been rife with the announcements, but nothing has gotten quite as much hype as when Netflix announced they were developing an Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action TV show for the popular streaming platform.
I was a bit concerned at first, but I have a lot of cautious excitement for the new show. Luckily, we know plenty about this upcoming series, including its focus on POC characters, and trying to get this adaptation just right for the fans.
What Is The Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender Premiere Date?
Get excited, because we have an official release date! The live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender TV show will premiere on February 22, 2024, one of the exciting new series on the 2024 TV schedule.
The show was announced several years ago in 2020, right when the original cartoon started to gain traction again on Netflix. And now, we finally know when it will be released. I'm so freaking excited and I am counting down the days until this comes out as part of the 2024 Netflix premiere schedule.
Check Out The Trailer For Avatar: The Last Airbender
We've waited so long to see a trailer for the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender show, and now, we finally got it.
The trailer features the story that we are about to dive in on, as well as the elements coming to life in live-action form. As someone who has always dreamed of what the bending would look like if humans could control the elements, this trailer is everything I could ask for. Also, we get to see Momo!
The trailer also teases that there will be several new additions to the show – including seeing Azula a heck of a lot more in the first season than we did in the original show, which I am always down for.
Gordon Comier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley And More Are Starring In The Series
Avatar: The Last Airbender has some incredible picks for its cast. Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko are the main children that we follow the show – and all are confirmed.
Gordon Cormier As Aang,
According to the official cast list from Netflix Tudum, Gordon Cormier is starring as Aang, the titular Avatar, who is an airbending prodigy and must learn all four elements to stop the Fire Lord.
Kiawentiio As Katara
From that same Tudum article, several other names were confirmed. Kiawentiio Tarbell is Katara, a young girl who is the last waterbender of the Southern Tribe. Tarbell has done voice roles in What If…? and appeared in the series Rutherford Falls and Anne with an E.
Ian Ousley As Sokka
Ian Ousley is Sokka, Katara’s funny, older brother, who takes his warrior skills seriously and wants to keep his tribe protected. Ousley has appeared in Physical, 13 Reasons Why, Big Shot and more.
Dallas Liu As Zuko
Dallas Liu will play Zuko, the banished prince of the Fire Nation, who is on an obsessive quest to somehow find the Avatar, return them back to his father, and regain his honor. Liu has appeared in Slumber Party, Players, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and more.
Daniel Dae Kim As Fire Lord Ozai
Daniel Dai Kim will play Fire Lord Ozai, the father of Zuko and the man who banished him. Kim has appeared in a variety of movies and TV, including Lost, Hellboy, Hawaii: Five-0, Insurgent and more.
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee As Uncle Iroh
Paul Sun-Hyung will play Uncle Iroh, Zuko’s uncle and the person helping him on his quest to find the Avatar. The actor has appeared in such TV shows as Ahsoka and The Mandalorian, as well as Kim’s Convenience, among others.
Elizabeth Yu As Azula
Elizabeth Yu will play Azula, Zuko’s younger sister and a prodigy. Yu has appeared in such projects like May December and Somewhere in Queens.
Other Avatar: The Last Airbender Cast Members
Several other stars were confirmed from that Tudum article, , including Maria Zhang as Suki,, Tamlyn Tomita and Yukari, Yvonne Chapman as Avatar Kyoshi, and Casey Camp-Horinek as Gran-Gran – and this isn’t even the full Avatar: The Last Airbender cast list. Truly, a full set of stars for sure.
About The Animated Avatar: The Last Airbender Series
Obviously for those who don’t know, this is a live-action adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon series of the same name, Avatar: The Last Airbender, which aired from 2005 to 2008.
The series starts out with siblings Katara and Sokka finding Aang frozen in an iceberg, where he awakens after 100 years, and now must learn all four elements in order to be able to stop Fire Lord Ozai from taking over the world during the legendary Sozin’s Comet, where Firebending would be at its most powerful.
The series ran for three seasons, spawned a sequel series, The Legend of Korra, and has had multiple continuations in comic and novel form, revealing new stories all the time. A new animated film is in the works as well, so the franchise is very successful. It’s not that surprising that a live-action adaptation is coming to Netflix.
The Live-Action Will Also Keep Its Elements Of Humor From The Cartoon Series
While it is great that Avatar: The Last Airbender is getting the adaptation that I think all of us have been craving for years, I was also concerned that a lot of the humor that also made the show great would get lost in translation.
However, Daniel Dae Kim (Firelord Ozai) spoke on the TigerBelly podcast about the upcoming show, revealing that there is “a lot of comedy,” which was one of the biggest complains about the M. Night Shyamalan version – that it took itself way too seriously.
This just makes me even more excited for the show.
Albert Kim Is The Showrunner For The Live-Action Avatar Series
According to Deadline, Albert Kim is acting as showrunner, as well as executive producer, for the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series.
Kim has worked on several other TV shows before as a writer and a producer, including Sleepy Hollow, Nikita, ESPN Hollywood, and more, so it’s exciting to see him take on the challenge of adapting this beloved series.
In a press update from Netflix, Kim talked about his love for the show, and how the idea of bringing this world to the streaming platform got him thinking:
The more I thought about it, the more intrigued I became. VFX technology has advanced to the point where a live-action version can not only faithfully translate what had been done in animation — it can bring a rich new visual dimension to a fantastic world. We’ll be able to see bending in a real and visceral way we’ve never seen before. Also, Netflix’s format meant we had an opportunity to reimagine a story that had originally been told in self-contained half-hour episodes as an ongoing serialized narrative. That meant story points and emotional arcs we’d loved in the original could be given even more room to breathe and grow.
For someone as passionate as he is about the show, I’m eager to see what he adds in terms of bringing these characters we love to life.
Kim Is Focused On Authentically Representing The Avatar Characters In The Live-Action Series
Throughout the same press update from Netflix, Kim continued to say that his plan is to not only expand on the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender as a whole, but to still stay as authentic to the original experience as possible, including the proper representation of each of the characters...
Don’t get me wrong. We’ll be expanding and growing the world, and there will be surprises for existing fans and those new to the tale. But 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, which is why we’ve assembled a team unlike any seen before—a group of talented and passionate artists who are working around the clock to bring this rich and incredibly beautiful world to life.
The representation of the main characters was one of the biggest critiques of the only other Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation, so to see someone care so much about wanting to get this version right fills me with hope that this series will be a success.
The Original Avatar Creators Are Not Involved In This Series
Now, this is the one aspect of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender series that I’m not feeling.
The original creators of the cartoon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, left the Netflix series, citing “creative differences” as the main reason for their departure, according to Entertainment Weekly in August 2020. They later went on to make Avatar Studios with Nickelodeon – something I’m quite excited for when it comes to new stories that could be told.
As an Avatar fan, this, understandably, scared the heck out of me, considering the last thing I wanted was for the series I loved so much to change so heavily. And, since the original creators are no longer involved, that frightened me even more.
However, I do have faith that because Albert Kim loves the series so much and promises that it will be authentic, we will hopefully have a great addition to the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe.
Albert Kim actually spoke to Entertainment Weekly in December 2023 about making the show without the creators, saying it was a harrowing process, but that he had faith they would be able to do it and bring the story “to a new generation,” and that it was one of the main appeals as to why he did it:
That was really appealing to me, being able to bring this story to a new generation.
He also said that being able to properly represent the POC in the new series was another reason he wanted to make sure the live-action was done correctly:
That was incredibly rare. It still is. A live-action version meant setting new benchmarks for representation by featuring an all Asian and Indigenous cast.
With the show not that far out, I can’t wait to see the version that he is bringing to us.
From one-off comics about beloved Avatar characters, to The Legend of Korra spinoff that has captured the hearts of viewers, Avatar: The Last Airbender has a rich and lore-filled universe, and I can only hope that the new Netflix series will cater to that and only add good things, rather than bad. The premiere literally cannot come soon enough.
