The official Avatar: The Last Airbender trailer has arrived just a month before the show’s highly anticipated premiere. The exciting trailer gives a few additional first looks, including a glimpse of Aang in the Avatar State.
Netflix first announced a live-action reimagining of the beloved animated Nickelodeon series in 2018. The original Avatar: The Last Airbender series ran for three seasons from 2005 to 2008 and received widespread critical acclaim. Viewers fell in love with the vibrant fictional world in which humans can bend one of the four elements—fire, earth, water, air—while the Avatar bends all four and maintains balance in the universe. Avatar: The Last Airbender soon became a sprawling franchise with a sequel series, a live-action film, and countless games and comics.
The franchise recently experienced a resurgence when it was announced that three animated theatrical films were in development in addition to Netflix’s series. However, Netflix’s live-action remake has caused some trepidation. Avatar: The Last Airbender was translated into live-action just once before by M. Night Shyamalan in 2010. Unfortunately, the film was a monumental failure and has been called one of the worst films ever made. Most of the beloved characters were badly miscast, the special effects were terrible, and it had nonsensical plotting. So it isn’t surprising that some fans have reservations about the new series, especially when original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko departed Netflix’s adaptation early on over creative differences.
As the Netflix series has drawn closer, fans have come to put more faith in the new Avatar adaptation. Especially because the casting choices appear much stronger than the casting in Shyamalan’s film. Additionally, with Netflix spending as much as $15 million per episode, viewers are hopeful the visual effects will effectively capture the beauty and power of bending. Here’s everything we know about Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender so far.
The official Avatar: The Last Airbender trailer has arrived
Netflix dropped the first official trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender on January 23, less than a month before the show’s release date on February 22, 2024.
The trailer shows off the epic scope of the series, as it seems Netflix has truly tried to do justice to the world-building in the original series. It gives glimpses of the nations, Appa, and MoMo; the detail is stunning. Meanwhile, the element bending and fight scenes look realistic, and the characters match their anime counterparts to a T. It also gets into some of the more emotional elements of the story, as Aang struggles to shoulder the responsibility of his destiny and forms a touching bond with Sokka and Katara. Viewers will catch a first look at Bumi and a brief glimpse of Aang in the Avatar State, too. Although it’s difficult to tell from one trailer, what is seen in this short clip bodes well for the show being a faithful adaptation.
Netflix releases new Avatar: The Last Airbender images
On December 21, Netflix unveiled a few new first-look images from Avatar: The Last Airbender. The photos showed characters like Yukari (Tamlyn Tomita), June (Arden Cho), Jet (Sebastian Amoruso), Gran Gran (Casey Camp-Horinek), and The Mechanist (Danny Pudi) for the first time. Meanwhile, we also get a closer look at Suki (Maria Zhang) and Aang (Gordon Cormier).
Who is in Avatar: The Last Airbender?
The four main stars of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender are Gordon Cormier, Dallas Liu, Kiawentiio, and Ian Ousley. At Netflix’s TUDUM 2023, all four were shown in character for the first time. All of them look compelling in their roles and appear to be the right age and right fit for their characters. The Stand‘s Cormier leads the series in his first lead acting role as Avatar Aang. Kiawentiio, best known for starring in Anne with an E, will star alongside him as Katara. Ian Ousley, who has guest starred in Big Shot and Young Sheldon, appears as Kiawentiio’s on-screen brother Sokka. Meanwhile, Dallas Liu, who appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, will portray Prince Zuko.
Two big Hollywood stars have also joined the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of Kim’s Convenience fame nabbed the role of Zuko’s wise and beloved Uncle Iroh, while The Good Doctor‘s Daniel Dae Kim was cast as Fire Lord Ozai. The only major character from the original series whose casting hasn’t been confirmed is Toph. Toph doesn’t appear in the animated series until season 2, so this may be why Netflix’s series is holding off on a casting announcement for her.
Additionally, the actors behind Zuko’s sister Azula and her gang have been revealed. Elizabeth Yu will star as Princess Azula and will be joined by Momona Tamadas as Azula’s acrobatic friend, Ty Lee, and Thalia Tran as Azula’s friend and Zuko’s love interest, Mai. Sokka’s future love interest will also be in the series, as Maria Zhang has been confirmed to be portraying Suki. Several other Avatars will appear in Avatar: The Last Airbender, likely in the form of flashbacks, visions, or the spirit world. Yvonne Chapman will appear as Avatar Kyoshi, Meegwun Fairbrother as Avatar Kuruk, and C.S. Lee as Avatar Roku. Additional cast members include:
Amber Midthunder as Princess Yue
Utkarsh Ambudkar as King Bumi
Aren Cho as June
George Takai as Koh the Face Stealer
Hiro Kanagawa as Fire Lord Sozin
James Sie as The Cabbage Merchant
Ken Leung as Commander Zhao
What is Avatar: The Last Airbender about?
As mentioned above, Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action remake of the original animated series. The plot is expected to closely follow the original story. It is reasonable to assume that season 1 will follow the story arc of the animated show’s first season, Book One: Water. If so, Netflix’s show will recount the disappearance of the Avatar for 100 years and how the nations fell into war in his absence. Everything changes, though, when siblings Katara and Sokka discover Avatar Aang frozen in an iceberg. He was trapped for 100 years, but he was essentially frozen in time and didn’t age, seemingly still being 12 years old when Sokka and Katara freed him.
Before he was frozen, Aang had only mastered airbending. Once freed, he must master all the elements to stop the Fire Nation’s imperialistic war and restore balance to the world. He decides to start his training by learning waterbending alongside waterbender Katara. While the trio searches for a waterbending teacher, banished Prince Zuko sets out to kill the Avatar to win back his father’s approval. Of course, we imagine that Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender will do a little more than just rehash the familiar story.
How many episodes will Avatar: The Last Airbender have?
While the show’s first season was initially rumored to have 10 episodes, it has been confirmed that Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 will consist of eight episodes, each an hour long.
(featured image: Netflix)
