Avatar: The Last Airbender's New Showrunner Had A Myriad Of Emotions Coming On Board
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" is one of the most acclaimed and beloved cartoons of all time. This is a show with incredible worldbuilding, visual style, and character development.
Despite the success of the animated series (and its equally great sequel series), "The Last Airbender" has had terrible luck with adaptations. First, there was the best-forgotten M. Night Shyamalan live-action movie which missed everything people liked about the show. Now, it is Netflix's turn to try with a TV adaptation titled, well, "Avatar: The Last Airbender."
Not only did this latest adaptation have to deal with the awfully poor expectations from fans, but it also suffered a devastating blow early on when original creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino departed due to creative differences. Granted, following that piece of bad news we also got the creation of Avatar Studios and multiple other Avatar projects in development, but the move meant the live-action remake no longer had the two people who knew the original work best.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, current showrunner Albert Kim ("Sleepy Hollow," the excellent "Pantheon") talked about the pressure of taking on the project without Konietzko and DiMartino.
"You'd have to be an idiot not to be intimidated a little bit," he said. "My first reaction after 'Hell yeah!' was 'Holy s—! Do I really want to do this? Is there a way to improve upon the original?' Whenever you tackle something that's already beloved by millions of fans, you have to ask yourself those questions."
An Avatar for a new generation?
We've seen some really incredible adaptations this year. "The Last of Us" managed to deliver an experience that was just like the games, while adding enough changes to make the story hit harder and stay fresh. On the animation front, "Pluto" and "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off" are masterclasses in how to reinvent beloved stories and translate them for a new medium. The latter especially found the right balance between offering a recognizable experience for longtime fans and delivering a fresh new take.
When it comes to "The Last Airbender" live-action series, it is hard to see how this show can justify its existence. It doesn't seem to be changing the original or expanding it in a significant way (other than seemingly showing us an unnecessary genocide that happens off-screen). Showrunner Kim has an answer. As he told EW, one thing that appealed to him was "being able to bring this story to a new generation."
Now, that answer doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. After all, this is still a show for young audiences, so why would you think young audiences are more inclined to watch a gritty TV show than an actual cartoon? Netflix's "One Piece" worked because it offered an easier entry point to its vast and impenetrable world than the anime or the manga, but when it comes to "The Last Airbender" the only barrier seems to be that it is an animated series. The "new generation" that can be enticed by the live-action remake seems to be people who foolishly think of the medium as kids' stuff.
Whether "The Last Airbender" is successful or just another example of how this story simply does not translate into live-action remains to be seen. We'll find out when the live-action series premieres on Netflix on February 22, 2024.