Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Is Making Aang’s Journey Much More Serious

We’re learning more and more about how Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series will differ from the original animated series, and it turns out Aang’s journey will be much more serious.

Speaking with IGN about how the story was and wasn’t changed, showrunner Albert Kim admitted that the story still runs from the same point A to point B but with a lot fewer detours because of the needs of a live-action drama with fewer episodes per season.

“So we decided to make Aang’s narrative drive a little clearer,” Kim said. “In the first season of the animated series, he’s kind of going from place to place looking for adventures. He even says, ‘First, we’ve got to go and ride the elephant koi.’ It’s a little looser as befits a cartoon. We needed to make sure that he had that drive from the start. And so, that’s a change that we made. We essentially give him this vision of what’s going to happen and he says, ‘I have to get to the Northern Water Tribe to stop this from happening.’ That gives him much more narrative compulsion going forward, as opposed to, ‘Let’s make a detour and go ride the elephant koi,’ that type of thing. So that’s something, again, that’s part of the process of going from a Nickelodeon cartoon to a Netflix serialized drama.”

Related: All Major Actors & Cast List for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

Obviously, a series going from 20 episodes in its first season to only eight is going to impact just how much you can cram into that season, even if the first season of the live-action show turns out not to be the entire story of the first season of the original. Things were going to need to be cut, as shows just don’t get 20+ episodes anymore to spend time riding fish or doing other filler. However, part of the reason Avatar: The Last Airbender is so beloved is because you got to watch Aang ride fish and run into characters in these side adventures. Missing out on those smaller stories could be a major detraction.

Then again, the live-action version is its own thing, and hopefully, it will stand on its own without the little moments or create its own moments. Maybe it can be like the Lord of the Rings films, which are great on their own but made even better when you know the details of the original.

We’ll just have to see how much Aang’s journey changes when Avatar: The Last Airbender lands on Netflix on Feb. 22.