The world of Avatar: The Last Airbender is rich and extensive. The animated series debuted in 2005 and gave us three damn near perfect seasons of television, a way less than perfect live-action film adaptation, and a spin-off in The Legend of Korra. And now, this universe is returning to the small screen in a new way: an Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series is coming to Netflix.
Netflix teased the reimagining on Twitter on Tuesday morning with some stunning concept art by John Staub featuring Appa (look, if Appa’s in it, I’m already sold) and Aang.
A reimagined, live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender†series is coming to Netflix!
(á´„á´É´á´„ᴇᴘᴛ ᴀʀᴛ Ê™Ê Já´ÊœÉ´ Sᴛᴀᴜʙ) pic.twitter.com/YsMoE4UguV
— See What’s Next (@seewhatsnext) September 18, 2018
Netflix also reports the original creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko will help this series as showrunners and executive producers; production’s slated to start in 2019.
AND I can confirm that the original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, will be back to take on the live action. THIS IS WHAT WE’VE BEEN TRAINING FOR ALL THESE YEARS. https://t.co/Pi5M1TDTZc
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) September 18, 2018
The word reimagining covers a lot of possibilities. I hope the central team of Aang, Katara, and Sokka will anchor the live-action series, and if the air bison Appa is around, Momo, Aang’s winged lemur buddy, had better be, too. Depending on the number of seasons this series spans, it could have fixed story points that match the original cartoon, but take different routes to get to those points. And the most obvious positive of this live-action series is that it could wipe the bad taste of the film adaptation out of my mouth (yes, it’s still lingering even though I saw the movie years ago).
What do you want to see? Do you want a live-action Avatar: ATLA? Tell us in the comments.
Images: Netflix, Nickelodeon
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy (pre-order it on Amazon). Follow her on Twitter.
