In a bid to cater to a wider audience and keep up its shrinking lead over other streaming platforms, Netflix is making a live-action remake of one of the most beloved cartoon series ever.
Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender ran for three years from 2005 and 2008, spawning a sequel and a series of comic books, among others. To date, the animated show continues to draw crowds in to Netflix as the adventures of Aang and the rest of Team Avatar are just as popular as ever. Now, images of Netflix’s attempt at creating a more faithful live-action adaptation have popped up online.
According to u/DripMaster926 from Reddit, the posted photos from Avatar: The Last Airbender are from a set currently in production in Vancouver, British Columbia. The leaked images only show green screens and the gate of a fortress, reminiscent of the episode that featured Prince Zuko’s alter-ego, The Blue Spirit, which is from the first season, Book One: Water.
Saw one of the sets for the live action ATLA series yesterday!
byu/Dripmaster926 inTheLastAirbender
The photos from the set of Avatar: The Last Airbender come shortly after Iroh’s actor, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, revealed in an interview that Netflix’s live-action adaptation is going to have eight one-hour long episodes per season.
The upcoming Netflix project has had quite a troubled history, which isn’t a good sign. After the initial announcement in 2018, the original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, stepped down as executive producers and showrunners due to a difference in opinion and vision. Jeremy Zuckerman, who composed music for the original show, also left following the departure of DiMartino and Konietzko. Albert Kim, who previously worked as a producer on Sleepy Hollow and Nikita, later stepped in to helm ATLA’s second attempt at starring real-life actors. Filming of the live-action adaptation of Avatar by Netflix only started last November and is expected to wrap up anytime soon.
Only time will tell how audiences will perceive the live-action ATLA series, but we’re hoping that it goes the way of Rurouni Kenshin and not Cowboy Bebop.
