With new photos and a teaser trailer from Netflix, we can finally, finally see after years of demand what our favorite animated Avatar: The Last Airbender characters look like in live action. There has never been a live action version of the classic animated series, and there was most definitely not a 2010 live-action film adaptation directed by M. Night Shyamalan that we have all collectively blocked from our memory — so this is 100% the first time we are ever seeing live-action versions. Kind of exciting.
OK, so that teaser trailer showed absolutely nothing except the symbols for all the tribes in the show and none of them are especially new, but at least it’s kind of something. The real first look of live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender comes from a collection of images that Netflix dropped for series characters Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko. We see Gordon Cormier as Aang with trademark blue head arrow, Kiawentiio Tarbell messing with some water as Katara, Ian Ousley sporting some prolific shoulder pads as Sokka, and Dallas Liu as the not-actually-evil Prince Zuko. All in all, the design seems pretty in line with the animated series.
Meet Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, coming 2024. #TUDUM pic.twitter.com/b7TKxo9pKC
— Netflix (@netflix) June 17, 2023
What isn’t in line with the animated series is the fact that its creators are not on board with this series at all. Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were set as showrunners for the series when it was announced but later left over creative differences, setting up a bit of a clash of series as they went off to announce three animated Avatar: The Last Airbender movies. Netflix, still with the rights to the live-action show, went on, with filming wrapping recently on the show. It’s said the plot follows pretty closely to the animated series, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming to Netflix sometime in 2024, and now we at least have first-look photos of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko.
