I'm Excited For The New Avatar: The Last Airbender Series, But There's One Major Thing I'm Worried About

Alright, let's talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender because I have A LOT of thoughts.

I'm a huge Avatar: The Last Airbender fan. I'm always the first person to recommend the show to anyone who hasn't seen it. I stayed up and binged the new live-action series and enjoyed every bit of it -- even the changes the Netflix show made. If you want a fan girl who can give you a detailed analysis of why Zuko has the best character development of all time, I'm your girl.

I even think The Legend of Korra – the sequel series that came out a few years later – is fun, too. Some people believe TLOK is better than ATLA, but I'm always an OG person, and I will love the first series forever.

And that last point, my friends, is why the new series, Avatar: Seven Havens, really concerns me. Let's get into it.

I'm A Huge Avatar Fan And Have Been For Years, And I'm Really Excited For The New Show

So, I want to start this off by saying again that I am a huge fan of the show, and I am excited about Avatar: Seven Havens, which got the greenlight from Nickelodeon earlier this week, per THR.

I knew it was coming for a while. It was announced a while ago, and as someone who loves to talk about anything in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, I was the first person to get excited when I knew there was a new series coming with the original creators behind it. How can you not?

What was even better was that I knew it would cover an Earth-bending-base Avatar because it follows the normal Avatar cycle. As someone who loves the Earthbenders – and thinks Toph is quite possibly the best female badass out there – I was eager to see this.

But the announcement came…and I have to say I'm a little concerned.

But I'm Not Sure About This Two-Season Order

Avatar: The Last Airbender was three seasons, and The Legend of Korra was four. Say what you want about either project or any filler, but as a long-time fan who has rewatched these series countless times, I fully believe that every show needed that number of episodes to tell the story effectively. I literally could not imagine what they would have done if ATLA had only two seasons or TLOK had only three.

This is why I am so confused about the two-season order for Avatar: Seven Havens.

Don't get me wrong—as someone who has read the ATLA comics, I do think the writers behind the show can tell an effective story in a small timeframe. However, the premise they gave us makes me really iffy about this.

In Avatar: Seven Havens, according to the logline from Nickelodeon, we are taken into a world that has been "shattered by a devastating cataclysm" that was caused by the previous Avatar, Korra (RIP now, I guess). Now, the Avatar is seen as "humanity's destroyer" and not the savior. This new Avatar, an Earthbending woman, is hunted by "human and spirit enemies," and now she and her long-lost twin must work together in order to prevent the collapse of society.

I'm sorry, what?

You're telling me that in two seasons, with only 26 episodes total, each a half-hour long, we are going to somehow tell this story effectively, not rush it, and ensure that characters are developed flawlessly in a world that is completely different from the ATLA universe that we already know?

I genuinely do not think that is possible.

Granted, THR reports that this is the "initial order," so perhaps there could be more seasons that are planned but just haven't been ordered yet. But that genuinely makes me so nervous, because this sounds like an epic grand story, and Nickelodeon only giving them two seasons throws me off.

I Want To Trust The Creators, But It's A Little Concerning With How Well-Laid Out The First Show Was

Truthfully, I do trust the creators. Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have never really steered me wrong personally, and they've been working on this for years. I could wonder what's going on in their brain for hours and still not grasp their brilliance.

But at the same time… I'm anxious about my favorite franchise ever.

Avatar: The Last Airbender means so much to me, not just as an animation but as a piece of art. The show itself is crafted beautifully, and the first series has a story that is literally impossible to replicate. It's the kind of show I would wish to rewatch entirely blind for the first time to rediscover my love for it all over again. I know that some have a strong connection to Korra as well…and I really hope that this can be the case for Seven Havens.

However, it's hard for lightning to strike twice, let alone three times.

We live in a world where everything feels so rushed nowadays with the pacing of TV shows and more. I don't want ATLA to fall into that trap. Here's hoping that Seven Havens claws its way out of that and is truly one to remember. If not…I don't know how I'll survive.