When Avatar: The Last Airbender first came out on Nickelodeon in 2005, the hit animated show’s premise – a power-hungry tyrant tries to take over the world, leaving society in chaos, and the only hope that remains for humanity lies in a single child – felt deeply rooted in fairy tales and fiction. But, less than a decade later, its success eventually led to a live-action adaptation that all pretty much set back any plans for other studios to do the same for years. It took more than a decade, a successful sequel show, and constant returns for Netflix to come swooping in to save the day.
On February 22, a Netflix series based on the original animated show is coming out, to a public with high expectations due to the recent adaptations such as HBO’s The Last of Us, Peacock’s Twisted Metal, and Netflix’s very own Arcane and Castlevania, among others.
While there remains doubt on whether Netflix’s massive investment in what, for a long time, was widely considered a kid’s show, the latest trailer proves that it’s headed in the right direction.
Over the past decade, as the taste of the masses have become more varied and nuanced, companies have used different mediums to spin and deliver gripping narratives. Some people use movies and films to do it, others use TV, and a fair few use animation. Avatar: The Last Air Bender, for example, is less about the journey of the Gaang, otherwise referred to by the fans as Team Avatar, as they try to save the world than it is a closer look at the effects of hate and cruel on the world and how kindness and empathy can go a long way in combating it. The group’s journey across the world, past the cabbage sellers, disgraced princes, and reformed soldiers, raises questions about the limits of human greed and how power can corrupt absolutely.
But while several cartoon-to-screen adaptations have made bank at the global box office, there’s a sense that so few of them have managed to translate the actual message of their source materials well.
For Hollywood, this is an intellectual property gold mine with an audience that the industry has, for some reason, failed to exploit for years, perhaps longer than gaming.
The good news is that Netflix, with its live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, has a fair chance at changing this narrative. We’ve already seen what Netflix can do with One Piece, which became a global phenomenon that could technically go on for years and helped it secure a modern anime re-imagining of the world’s best-selling manga.
Unfortunately, unlike One Piece, which had the full backing of Eiichiro Oda, Avatar: The Last Airbender will have to make do without its creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, after the duo left the project, citing the creative differences between the platform and their vision as the reason. However, Albert Kim has since come on board to serve as its writer, executive producer, and showrunner. His pedigree, which includes Nikita, Sleepy Hollow, and Pantheon, may not carry as much weight, but, nevertheless, he remains committed to giving audiences an authentic experience.
With a proper adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender likely going to take place across three seasons, the first one will have to make an impression and, by the looks of it, it’s poised to make fans out of everyone.
