Showrunner And Actors For 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Talk What's New As Premiere Looms
Image Source: Netflix
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, a show released on Nickelodeon, featuring a cast of young people able to bend the elements. Then everything changed, and it kicked off a massive fandom the world over. Now, in less than a month, a closely watched live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender will premiere on Netflix.
Entertainment Weekly features the young stars assuming that mantle this week, along with the showrunner Albert Kim, to get as many details about the upcoming show before its release. They even reveal new content that was not seen and only hinted at in the animated series.
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One of those is the heartwrenching genocide of the Airbenders. For those unaware, when the previous Avatar, Avatar Roku, died, the reincarnation cycle brought the power of the Avatar to Aang. The Firelord at the time, Sozin, knew this and launched an invasion and genocide of the Airbenders to prevent the Avatar cycle from continuing. Albert Kim points out that while, yes, the animated show was geared toward children, and season one certainly adhered to that, seasons two and three were far more serious and dark in tone. He wanted to bring that to season one of the adaptation, while not making it a completely dark retelling. The genocide of the Airbenders by Sozin and the Fire Nation was only hinted at in the show, with the results of that shown in some locales and the remains of the airbenders. The depiction of the genocide should add to the emotional weight behind Aang’s being the only airbender left.
In addition to that, Daniel Dae Kim’s Firelord Ozai and Elizabeth Yu’s Princess Azula are present in season one but they don’t make an appearance until the end of season one of the animated show. This makes sense from a pacing perspective, given the restricted nature of the adaptation in episode number. Furthermore, some things that worked in the animated show, which aired in 2005, may not hit as well anymore, like Sokka’s cringy sexism, so Ian Ousley, who plays Sokka, said they tried to axe a bunch of that while keeping Sokka his funny, dad-jokey self.
The show premieres February 22 on Netflix.
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Source(s): Entertainment Weekly
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