REALΙΤΥ BENDING

WILL NETFLIX'S AVATAR: LAST AIRBENDER LIVE ACTION SERIES CAPTURE THE MAGIC OF THE ORIGINAL? SHOWRUNNER ALBERT FILM MAKES THE CASE FOR WHY IT WILL

- TARA BENNET

EVER SINCE NETFLIX announced in 2018 that they were making a “reimagined” liveaction adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans have been stressing out that their beloved fantasy series was going to get done dirty… again.

In its two decades of existence, animation has remained the safe haven of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s critically acclaimed, award-winning original fantasy series. It was created for Nickelodeon, where it became a huge hit with teens and adults, and ran for three seasons (2005–2008). Fusing Asian-inspired ancient lore with epic, elemental-based world-building and stellar characters, Avatar: The Last Airbender became an instant classic, one which continues to generate fresh waves of fans via streaming.

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But attempts to adapt the animated series to live action have been bumpy, to say the least. First there was M Night Shyamalan’s 2010 big-budget feature The Last Airbender, which rejected the input of DiMartino and Konietzko, and whitewashed the casting of many Asian characters. The resulting film suffered greatly for those choices, landing like a lead balloon with the fandom.

Now there’s Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender series, which originally boasted DiMartino and Konietzko as the showrunners, until they left the project in June 2020. That move prompted a collective gasp from the fandom, who are now waiting with bated breath for the series premiere. The man who now holds the fate of the series in his hands is executive producer/showrunner Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow). A veteran genre storyteller, Kim was already part of the series development team when DiMartino and Konietzko hit a personal brick wall with Netflix and made their exit.