Master The Elements With Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Trailer
Live-action remakes of animated titles have a mixed history. Some, like the "One Piece" live-action remake, manage to offer something new to newcomers (a condensed version of a long-running story) and also established fans (a refresher for a 27-year-old story). Others, like the Disney remakes, add very little to the source material and mostly seem made to replace the originals in the eye of the public, offering a lesser version of the animated title. More often than not, what you lose when remaking an animated story into live-action far outweighs whatever you gain by having flesh and blood actors.
This is to say, the odds are stacked against the Netflix live-action remake of "Avatar: The Last Airbender," especially since the original creators departed the project over creative differences. To the new showrunners, this came as a bit of a blow.
"You'd have to be an idiot not to be intimidated a little bit," showrunner Albert Kim 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?'"
Still, that isn't stopping Netflix from trying to capture the charm of the original — and from succeeding in some areas. Now, a trailer for the live-action "Avatar: The Last Airbender" has dropped, and you can watch it above.
The Avatar returns, now in the flesh
Much like the "One Piece" live-action show, the production budget is on screen in the new "Avatar: The Last Airbender" trailer. The series will feature several locations, big sets, and elaborate costumes to bring the world originally created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko to life. Also like "One Piece," sadly, some characters and shots don't translate that well — Zuko's scar is too small, and some shots look too dark.
The bigger question that remains to be answered is how the Netflix remake will tackle the episodic format of the original "Avatar: The Last Airbender." After all, that first season was very much a kid-friendly, adventure-of-the-week cartoon with some fun world-building and tons of great silly gags. Sure, there were moments of absolute greatness early on, but the show had a good balance between plot and lore and also standalone episodic fun — the kind of balance we don't get in the era of streaming but made for great network TV.
"Avatar: The Last Airbender" premieres February 22, 2024 on Netflix.