The Netflix live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender is set to premiere next month. The series which follows the narrative made popular by the 2005 animated show of the same name, is already creating a lot of talking points. This is due to the significant changes that are being made to the storyline and the character arcs, especially with regard to the key protagonists Sokka and Aang.
Another big difference in live-action series will be the importance given to Azula, the secondary antagonist in the animated series who was seen in a more prominent role in the second season. But in the Netflix version, the villain is touted to play a pivotal part right from season 1.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Will Give This Villain More Screen Time
There is a lot of anticipation for the upcoming Netflix live-action series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. Based on the animated series of the same name, the show will feature similar narratives while also making significant changes to certain plotlines and characters. In one major difference, executive producer Albert Kim revealed that the antagonist Azula who featured mostly in the second season of the animated show, will get a bigger and more important arc in season 1 of the live-action version.
In an interview with IGN, Kim elaborated on the details and said that the plotline will focus more on the Fire Nation narrative which involves Aang who reappears after 100 years to vanquish the Fire Lord Ozai. In an effort to seamlessly expand on these parallel plotlines and characters including Ozai’s son Zuko, Kim felt that this change was mandatory to the show.
“Azula is one who, in the animated series, you don’t really see until Season 2. But we made the conscious decision to bring some of those Fire Nation storylines more to the fore in the first season because I felt like we needed to balance out the storylines. We needed to know more about the background for Zuko, and why he’s doing what he’s doing, and set that in the context of his family dynamic, and how he fits in with his father and sister.”
The producer was confident that these modifications and additions to the narrative will enhance the story and the characters while giving audiences a deep dive into the development of the plot as early as season 1.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Is Worrying Fans For These Big Changes
In the Netflix live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender, young stars Ian Ousley, Gordon Cormier, and Kiawentiio will play the 3 central protagonists namely Sokka, Aang, and Katara. But a few key modifications to both Sokka and Aang’s characters is causing some worry among fans who are questioning the logic behind the change.
In the animated series, Sokka is seen as a protagonist with very distinctive traits including sharp intelligence, wry humor, and a protective brotherly affection towards his sister Katara. In addition, he also had a penchant for making immature and sexist remarks that were prevalent throughout his adventures. In fact, it was Sokka’s inappropriate comment that accidentally led to the siblings discovering Aang.
But it now appears that the live-action series has done away with this key aspect of the character in a possible effort to be more relatable to modern audiences while also attempting to bring a different aesthetic to the role. In addition, producer Albert Kim revealed a pivotal change to Aang’s character and his transition into the Avatar State in an interview with IGN.
“In fact, we actually don’t see Aang going into the Avatar State as much in our first season as they did in the animated series because we wanted to make sure that it felt very special. We wanted to make it very clear that Aang could only access that state in a specific set of circumstances. We actually tweaked the rules a little bit from the original series as to when and how he can access that state.”
While this may not be as radical a change as what Sokka’s character faces, there are doubts being cast about the effect that this decision will have on the overall narrative which includes the epic Seige of the North battle that relies a lot on Aang entering the Avatar State. Furthermore, fans fear that Aang’s importance in the narrative might be diluted and diverted to other characters as a result of these changes. In a few weeks, all will be revealed when the series premiers on Netflix.
Avatar: The Last Airbender will stream from 22nd February 2024, on Netflix.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (animated series) is streaming on Amazon Prime.
