Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action Series Reportedly Finds New Showrunner
Netflix's upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series has officially found a new showrunner. The original Nickelodeon animated series aired from 2005 to 2008, but experienced a revival in popularity when all three seasons hit Netflix in May of 2020. The show now boasts the longest consecutive run on Netflix's list of top 10 TV series and the title of the streamer's most-watched animated kids' show in 2020.
With that kind of popularity inevitably comes talk of reboots, sequels, and spin-offs. Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, followed up the original series with The Legend of Korra, which centered around Aang's successor as the Avatar and was generally well-received among fans. M. Night Shyamalan also adapted the original series into a less successful 2010 live-action film that was panned by fans and critics alike. In September 2018, Netflix confirmed Konietzko and DiMartino were on board to develop a live-action Avatar series, but the duo exited the project in August of 2020 due to creative differences.
Fans were understandably dismayed when the original show's creators cut ties with the project, but there's still hope for Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series. According to The Illuminerdi, Albert Kim is set to replace Konietzko and DiMartino as showrunner. Kim's writing and producing credits include the supernatural series Sleepy Hollow, The CW's action-thriller Nikita, and TNT's drama heist show Leverage.
It's difficult to determine which direction Kim will take the show purely based on his credits. Perhaps Konietzko and DiMartino's departure suggests the live-action series will significantly stray from the original show, allowing Kim to exercise more creative freedom. Or maybe Netflix is looking to replicate the success of the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series by strictly sticking to the original narrative. The latter option is a dangerous one, as the reimagined series may not fare well when compared too closely to the fan-favorite animated version.
Hopefully, Kim and everyone else working on the live-action Avatar series are able to find the balance between staying true to the original and making the new show its own. Nevertheless, the benefit of adapting the animated show into a live-action format is that Avatar: The Last Airbender already has an incredibly loyal fanbase. Viewers love to see their favorite animated characters reinvented on screen as real people, and the element of nostalgia certainly bodes well for the upcoming series. From an outside perspective, it seems as though Kim has been dealt a competitive, if not winning, hand, but it remains to be seen how he'll play it.
Source: The Illuminerdi
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