Avatar: The Last Airbender recently has been renewed for two seasons. The live-action reimagining of the beloved animated series follows Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the terrifying Fire Nation and will conclude with season 3.
While the first season had eight episodes, there’s no word as of now on how many episodes will be in the final two seasons. In the meantime, the show just faced a big change before tackling Book Two for the live-action series.
Albert Kim, who developed the series and served as showrunner on Season 1, is stepping down.
Change in Leadership in Netflix’s Live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender Series
Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender sees a big change in leadership as it loses its original showrunner from season 1 for its upcoming seasons 2 and 3. Albert Kim, who stepped in as showrunner after the original Avatar creators departed, is now stepping away from the show.
Co-executive producer Christine Boylan and exec producer Jabbar Raisani will take over as the next showrunners. Netflix has officially confirmed this.
Boylan earlier was there as co-executive producer and writer for Season 1 and served on other Netflix shows like The Punisher and Poker Face. Raisani served as an executive producer, director, and visual effects supervisor on Season 1 as well.
Kim first became Avatar’s showrunner back in 2020 following the unexpected exits of Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, who created the original animated Avatar series for some creative differences.
However, Kim will remain on the show as an executive producer. He has just signed a deal with Disney to join Percy Jackson and the Olympians as an exec producer.
Last Airbender is based on the iconic Nickelodeon series of the same name. The live-action version’s first season starred Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, and Ken Leung, with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Daniel Dae Kim.
What Did Albert Kim Say About the Original Series Creators Exiting the Netflix Remake?
The original creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko stepped back as showrunners on this series over creative differences. And much discourse was seen on this.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Albert Kim said that it was a personal decision by the duo.
“Everything from their vision, and what I thought should be done, to me geeking out about being able to talk to the original creators. So, we worked together for a little while, and then they decided they needed to leave, and that was a personal decision on their part. It did bum me out, because I enjoyed working with them, and I obviously would have loved to have kept on doing that.“
In an interview with IndieWire, Kim picked Zuko as the most popular character among others because of his incredible redemption arc.
Anyway, it would be interesting to see how the new showrunners carry forward the series in seasons 2 and 3 following Kim’s exit.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix.
