Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender will have to brace themselves for the major changes that will happen in the series as both executive producer and showrunner confirmed that there will be condensing and timeline jumps in the upcoming seasons.
Based on the Nickelodeon animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender contains a multitude of storylines and subplots that may not be tackled in the live-action series due to limited episodes.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Seasons 2 And 3 May Skip Multiple Storylines
During Paleyfest 2024, executive producer Jabbar Raisani told The Direct that they will have to pack several stories into two seasons with the limited episodes they have.
“I think it’s a lot like season 1. There’s a lot of content in the animated series. And we will be looking at all that content. But we don’t have the number of episodes that we have in the animated series. So, certainly, there will be some condensing that has to take place.”
Even actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee has no idea that the show will be a remix of the original animated show. Despite the mixed reactions from the viewers, the Netflix series was still granted a go signal for two more seasons.
“I have no idea what they have planned for us… I know we’re getting an opportunity to finish telling the story. Obviously, the animated series is going to be the template for us. But other than that, I don’t know how they’re going to remix the stories. Nobody tells me nothing.”
The original Avatar: The Last Airbender had enough means to complete the story. Each season is considered an entire book, which consists of around 20 episodes. It’s understandable, though, that there will be some adjustments in the live-action series, given they were only granted limited episodes per season.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Is A Remix, Not A Repeat Performance Of The Original Show
When asked by IGN how many changes will be made in the live-action show, showrunner Albert Kim said they tried to pay respect to the source material, but they also offered something fresh and new.
“I’ve used the term that this is a remix, not a cover, in that you’ve got to hit a lot of familiar notes, but you can’t forget that this is supposed to be a new song. So obviously, there are story points and characters that you have to do fairly faithfully from the original.”
He also remarked on the challenges that are faced when transferring from a two-dimensional series to a live-action one. A lot of factors are needed to be considered here.
“But at the same time, you’re literally translating something from 2D to 3D, and that meant dimensionalizing the story, taking it into new places, filling in some of the gaps.”
Additionally, he revealed that some scenes in the Netflix series did not exist in the animated show. Kim justified that this was “needed to see in order to make it feel much more grounded as a live-action show.”
Seasons 2 and 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender have no scheduled release dates yet, but fans can watch all past episodes of Season 1 via Netflix.
