The live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation just dropped on Netflix. So, how much of Book 1 – the original Nickelodeon cartoon’s first season – does Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 adapt?
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How Much of Book 1 Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 Adapts
Season 1 of the Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender remake essentially tells a condensed version of Book 1’s story. Indeed, extended prologue notwithstanding, the Netflix show starts and finishes in the same place as its cartoon counterpart. Katara and Sokka find Aang frozen in an iceberg in Episode 1, “Aang,” and the newly formed trio leads the successful defense of the Northern Water Tribe in Episode 8, “Legends.” It’s recognizably the same narrative arc as before.
That said, Netflix only allocated eight episodes for the live-action Avatar‘s first season – 12 fewer than Season 1 of the Nickelodeon show had at its disposal. As a result, showrunner Albert Kim and his team have made substantial changes to Avatar‘s original narrative, streamlining or even outright jettisoning multiple characters and subplots. The timing of some events – such as Aang’s return to the Southern Air Temple – is rearranged, as well.
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What Does Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 Cut From Book 1?
Here are some of the major Book 1 characters and plot points cut from Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1:
- In Episode 1, “Aang,” Sokka no longer exiles Aang from the Southern Water Tribe. He does briefly consider handing Aang over to Prince Zuko’s Fire Nation forces, however.
- Episode 2, “Warriors,” scraps Book 1’s Agni Kai duel between Zuko and Commander Zhao. It also omits the feud between Team Avatar and a band of pirates (who do at least make a cameo later), as well as the gigantic eel Aang rides while fighting the Fire Nation troops. Aang’s Kyoshi Island fangirls don’t feature, either.
- Episode 4, “Into the Dark,” draws heavily on Book 2 installment “The Cave of Two Lovers” – except for Aang and Katara’s (apparent) first kiss. There’s not even a hint that the pair lock lips in “Into the Dark.”
- In Episode 5, “Spirited Away,” Zuko and his uncle, Iroh, encounter a resident of the Great Divide – a nod to an excised Book 1 adventure that sees Aang negotiate peace between rival Earth Kingdom clans trekking across the canyon. What’s more, dialogue in “Spirited Away” references Book 1, Episode 14, “The Fortuneteller,” in which Team Avatar averts a volcanic eruption, an incident not depicted in the Netflix show.
- The events of Book 1, Episode 6, “Imprisoned,” and Episode 16, “The Deserter,” are entirely cut.
All eight episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 are currently streaming on Netflix.
