The Avatar has returned in live action form on Netflix February 22, 2024!
And no I’m not talking about a second film for that disgrace of a live action adaptation film back in 2010 for all the “Avatar The Last Airbender” fans, that should never have been made with its controversial casting, and if that movie were a villain, the real Avatar better kick them in the rear for disturbing the balance of the Avatar fandom and the representation of Asian and Indigenous characters. But I digress.
We’re talking about the new live action series which has just released an action-packed teaser during the biggest Netflix fan event of the year, Geeked Week November 6–12, a week-long virtual event that showcases the new movies, series, and games coming to the streaming service.
To finish the November 9 presentation, Netflix showed off a first look of the live action, where we see a glimpse of young Filipino-Canadian actor, Gordon Cormier, as the one and only last Airbender and Avatar, Aang, a 12 year old (well 112 years old, chronologically) boy, who along with his sky bison, Appa, escaped the awful genocide, 100 years ago, when the Fire Nation attacked and killed the Airbenders in order to break the Avatar Cycle so no one could stop them in their world conquest.
But since Aang is alive today, he will devote his time to learn all three elements (not including his birth nation bending which he has already mastered) with the help of Southern Water Tribe native siblings, Kiawentiio Tarbell (who’s of Mohawk descent) as Katara (who’s the only water bender in the whole South Pole), and Native-American, Ian Ousley as Sokka (a non-bender, but nonetheless a strong warrior with a trusty boomerang), who join him on his quest alongside Appa and the flying lemur, Momo (both of whom are brilliantly brought to life through CGI).
With allies, however, always come foes that being the iconic Fire Prince with a future redemption arc, Zuko (portrayed by karate-skilled Chinese-Indonesian, Dallas Liu) who got his left eye burned. Zuko was banished from the Fire Nation by his own father, the merciless Fire Lord Ozai (who definitely wins “Worst Father in the World”) until he completes his quest to hunt down the Avatar. He is accompanied by his really sweet and passive, yet also strong and wise, the fan-favorite Uncle Iro who also serves as a voice of reason and father figure to Zuko. Bro is portrayed by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee.
Speaking of Fire Lord Ozai, he makes a fiery villainous introduction with his throne surrounded by fire as we get a good look at him. Ozai has a bigger role/appearance in Season One also referred to as “Book One: Water” (especially in the original animated series) of this live action adaptation, while in the original, he only appeared twice, once in a flashback, where he scarred Zuko’s face, but he didn’t take on a bigger role until “Book Three: Fire”, where he was the ultimate final boss for Aang to defeat.
Ozai is portrayed by widely known actor Daniel Dae Kim. Alongside Ozai, Azula, Zuko’s perfectionist, yet megalomaniacal sister, who is the main antagonist of “Book Two: Earth”, even makes an appearance in this live action’s first season. She is portrayed by Elizabeth Yu.
The short, but groundbreaking trailer in total was amazing with glimpses of familiar places that are key elements of Aang’s journey in Season/Book One with places such as Earth Nations like Omashu and Kyoshi Island, and in the Arctic region of the Water Tribe, where Aang froze himself and Appa in the iceberg for 100 years.
We also get a good look at the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki, a fan-favorite character, who’s portrayed by Maria Zhang. She also serves as a potential love interest for Sokka as in the original series. She puts Sokka in his place with some of his sexist ideals while teaching him some basic Kyoshi Warrior techniques, but they’re a perfect match.
Even though we only get to see only a little bit of bending in the teaser, there numerous great stunts performed in small snippets, yet it’s also pretty awesome as Zuko does a kick while emitting a ball of fire from the kick to go one-on-one with his opponent. We also see Aang fly up in the air and land quickly sending a bomb of air literally blowing some fire nation soldiers away, and at the beginning of the trailer he does his iconic air bending stance as he airbends away a bunch of smoke to reveal himself.
Overall the trailer is mind blowing and filled with many surprises which leads us to anticipate likewise for the entirety of the show. Even more amazing: almost all Avatar fan favorite characters from Book One and Book Two that further reflect the beautiful influence and inspiration that Asian culture and more have been played out in the original Nickelodeon animesque show, which has greatly and positively impacted fans all over the world, and helped break Asian and Indigenous stereotypes.
Another thing to acknowledge is that Albert Kim took over as writer, executive producer, and showrunner of the Live Action after the original creators of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who were originally in collaboration with Netflix as showrunners for the live action, fell out due to creative differences.
However, this is not the only surprise the Avatar franchise has up it sleeves. DiMartino and Konietzko have formed the Avatar Studio which is a new division of Nickelodeon where it will develop new animated series and films set in the Avatar universe. Their first film feature will center on and an all-grown up Avatar Aang and his friends also known as the Gaang, which will debut in theaters October 10, 2025.