WARNING! The following piece contains SPOILERS for Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” Season 1.
The long gestating live-action TV adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender has finally arrived on Netflix after years of build-up and fanfare. This new series aims to please fans of the beloved animated original and show that the franchise is in better hands than it was with the M. Night Shyamalan movie; while also bringing in a new audience more familiar with Netflix action dramas.
As such, while 2024’s Avatar: The Last Airbender follows the same plot beats as the original show’s Book 1, many have been expanded, condensed, combined, remixed or some combination of the four, while others have been removed altogether. To properly break down these changes, we’ll need to look at all eight episodes individually to see what’s changed and what’s stayed the same. Without further ado, let’s begin.
Also Read: “I was disappointed,” Avatar: The Last Airbender Star Disrespects M. Night Shyamalan’s Live-Action Version With Honest Verdict
Avatar Episode 1: “Aang”
The first episode of the new series combines the first three episodes of the original, “The Boy In The Iceberg,” “The Avatar Returns,” and “The Southern Air Temple,” into a single story. The episode even opens on an extended version of Aang and the Air Nomads’ backstory from “The Southern Air Temple;” though Aang is now simply told he’s the Avatar by Gyatso instead of the whole thing with the toys in the original.
There’s also more backstory behind the Fire Nation’s genocide against the Air Nomads here. The very first scene shows an Earthbender stealing battle strategies from the Fire Nation in an effort to protect the Earth Kingdom; only for it to turn out that Fire Lord Sozin WANTED him to steal said plans so that everyone’s attention would be on the Earth Kingdom and not the Air Nomads.
Sadly, most of the temple exploration and all of the Momo scenes have been cut from the “Southern Air Temple” portion of the story; as well as the penguin sledding from “The Boy In The Iceberg.” Apart from some extended action beats, the story from “Boy In The Iceberg” and “Avatar Returns” otherwise remains the same.
Avatar Episode 2: “Warriors”
After briefly going through the ending of “Southern Air Temple” and introducing Momo, only for him to promptly disappear for most of the season, “Warriors” spends its runtime adapting a single episode of the original series: Book 1’s “The Warriors of Kyoshi.” However, the context is surprisingly different across both versions.
In the original show, Aang, Katara and Sokka stumble upon Kyoshi Island by accident while Aang is surfing with whale koi. They get ambushed and captured by the Kyoshi Warriors but Aang starts being hero-worshipped by the island’s inhabitants after revealing himself as the Avatar. In the meantime, Sokka learns the consequences of his sexism and arrognace from the all-female Kyoshi Warriors until all the storylines come together due to a Fire Nation raid on the island at the end.
Here, the gang travels to Kyoshi Island on purpose so that Aang can commune with Kyoshi to learn how to be a better Avatar. While they are not captured, the islanders do initially mistrust them before granting them a 48-hour amnesty period to allow Aang to commune with Kyoshi. Sokka still spends a lot of time with Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors; but because he’s not sexist anymore, this section of the story mostly serves to fast-track the Suki and Sokka romance from the original.
The ending with the Fire Nation raid remains mostly the same, save for one major addition. While Aang is communing with Kyoshi, he discovers that not only can he talk to specific past Avatars at their respective shrines; but he can also grant them control over his body in the physical plane. This allows Kyoshi to appear in the present day and have a relatively cool-looking battle with Zuko.
Avatar Episode 3: “Omashu”
This is where the new series really starts to play fast and loose with condensing and combining plot elements from the original. On top of Azula showing up at the beginning for her own subplot despite only appearing in Book 1 as an end-of-season tease; the main plot mashes together “The King of Omashu,” “Jet,” and “The Northern Air Temple,” three episodes that occur at wildly different points in Book 1, into a single narrative.
Like in the original “King of Omashu,” Aang shows Katara and Sokka the city’s massive and elaborate mail delivery chute system and they have a run-in with a consistently unlucky cabbage merchant (And yes, they did keep the “My cabbages!” line). However, this time around, they have to smuggle themselves into the city with the help of Jet, who lives in Omashu instead of a camp in the forest like in his self-titled episode from the original show.
While there, they meet Teo and his father The Mechanist, who also live in Omashu instead of the floating city from “The Northern Air Temple,” with Sokka and The Mechanist bonding over a shared passion for engineering like in that original episode. However, also like in that original episode, they soon discover that The Mechanist has been selling secrets to the Fire Nation and Aang is taken prisoner; though here it’s by Fire Nation liaisons rather than Earth Kingdom soldiers.
Avatar Episode 4: “Into The Dark”
While Jet, Teo, and The Mechanist are still present for this part of the story, this episode is primarily an adaptation of the second half of “King of Omashu,” with Aang being unexpectedly given a feast and later a series of trials to prove his worth as the Avatar by King Bumi. However, the mystery angle from the original show is gone here. Aang immediately recognizes Bumi as his old childhood friend from before he was frozen.
The other big change is that Sokka and Katara are not present for the feast or the trials. Instead, they’re going to rescue Aang by navigating a secret tunnel system underneath the city in a surprisingly accurate adaptation of Book 2’s “The Cave of Two Lovers,” including the whole backstory of the two lovers and how Omashu was named after them, the glowing lights leading them out of the cave, and even the iconic “Secret Tunnel” song; though obviously the romantic tension between Aang and Katara is not here given that the two are in separate storylines in this version.
Avatar Episode 5: “Spirited Away”
Speaking of bringing things from Book 2 into Book 1’s story, this episode blends Book 1’s “Winter Solstice” two-parter with “The Foggy Swamp” from Book 2. Like in “Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World,” Aang travels to the Spirit World for the first time, though he does it on purpose here instead of wandering in after a failed monster battle like in the original.
And like in “Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku,” he communes with Roku at his temple in the Fire Nation through the aid of a sympathetic Fire Sage, though Roku doesn’t warn him about Sozin’s Comet in this version; instead simply reinforcing how being the Avatar puts his loved ones at risk and therefore he should take the journey alone.
However, this time around, Katara and Sokka go to the Spirit World with him, wherein they experience visions similar to the ones they had in “The Foggy Swamp” while Aang gets a heartfelt reunion with Gyatso. The one other major plot point here is Zuko and Iroh hiring the bounty hunter June to capture Aang, the only storyline that the live-action version takes from “Bato of the Water Tribe.”
Avatar Episode 6: “Masks”
Apart from a change in circumstances from remedying a sick Sokka to being captured by June, this episode is a largely straightforward adaptation of “The Blue Spirit.” Aang is imprisoned by Admiral Zhao and rescued by a mysterious masked warrior; only for that warrior to turn out to be Zuko, causing Aang to ask if the two could’ve been friends before Zuko violently rejects the concept.
Intercut with this is Zuko’s backstory as seen in “The Storm.” Apart from some additional scenes with him and Iroh before the council meeting, this plays out mostly the same as it did in that original episode. Zuko questions his father’s leadership in the council meeting and Ozai challenges Zuko to an Agni Kai in which he permanently scars Zuko before banishing him until such time as he finds the Avatar.
Avatar Episode 7: “The North”
Most of this episode’s main plot beats are taken from Book 1’s “The Waterbending Master.” The gang finally arrives in the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka meets Princess Yue and is almost immediately smitten, and Aang and Katara begin training in waterbending. However, there are some key differences in the new version.
Rather than training directly with Master Pakku, Aang spends most of his time here communing with Avatar Kuruk, the last Waterbending Avatar. And instead of getting Pakku to lift his “No women in combat” policy by reminding him of his former fiancee, Katara simply shows off how capable she is; but never ends up actually training with him.
Additionally, the love triangle between Sokka, Hahn, and Yue is much more low-key in this version. Sokka doesn’t even get a chance to ask her out before learning about the engagement and thus doesn’t do so out of respect, but he still clearly has feelings for her that are very much reciprocated by her.
Avatar Episode 8: “Legends”
Fittingly enough, the final episode of the season adapts the “Siege of the North” two-parter that ended Book 1 fairly closely. Admiral Zhao and his Fire Nation forces siege the Northern Water Tribe using a massive fleet and stolen war balloon designs from the Mechanist, the forces of Team Avatar and the other Waterbenders start to fend them off, but then Admiral Zhao turns the tide in the Fire Nation’s favor by killing the mortal form of the Moon Spirit and taking away the Waterbenders’ abilities.
The discovery that the Moon Spirit is a koi fish feels much more sudden than it did in the original, but the result is the same up to and including Aang merging with the vengeful Ocean Spirit to beat the Fire Nation fleet and Yue sacrificing herself to restore the moon and the Water Tribe’s bending. The big changes made here are to the ending tease.
Obviously, Book 1’s ending reveal of Azula wouldn’t work here because Azula has been present throughout the story, so instead our major tease for the next season shows her and her forces taking over Omashu, which happened early on in Book 2 in the original show. There’s also a mid-credits scene where Ozai learns that Sozin’s Comet is indeed returning soon; but unlike the original show, Aang seemingly does not know this yet.
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