A new entry in the Avatar franchise is about to soar and James Cameron has no part in it.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a completely different fictional world from Cameron’s Pandora but the two similarly named dueling sci-fi fantasy properties have kept throwing out new entries over the decades.
On Thursday (Feb 22) – two years after the debut of Avatar: The Way of Water – Netflix offers Avatar: The Last Airbender, a multi-part, lush live-action adaptation that mixes adventure and friendship, martial arts and philosophy, all through an Asian lens.
It’s a potentially fraught step because fans of this universe are very protective of the franchise, which began as a beloved cartoon series in the anime style airing on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008.
“When you have an opportunity to be part of a world that is beloved by generations of people, it can be daunting sometimes because it’s a big responsibility,” says actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. “But, at the same time, as performers, you don’t often get chances to sort of dive into worlds like that and to be part of gigantic productions.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender is centered on a world with four tribes – air, water, earth and fire. Some can manipulate or “bend” their respective elements: Hurl giant blobs of water, raise up rocks or zap someone with a wave of flames.
The eight-part saga starts with this world unbalanced — there has been a war for nearly 100 years as the Fire Nation tries to take over the planet, pretty much wiping out the airbenders along the way.
Then a young waterbender named Katara and her older brother, Sokka, discover a 12-year-old airbender named Aang, who has been frozen for a century. They realize that he may be the prophesied Avatar who can control all four elements and unite all four nations.
“I never asked to be special,” Aang says early in the first episode. “The world needs you, Aang,” he is told by an elder. “I don’t want this power,” replies Aang. The elder counters: “Which is why you will make a great Avatar.”
“It’s Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey,” says Daniel Dae Kim, who plays the leader of the Fire Nation, connecting the series to such franchises as Star Wars and The Matrix. “It makes it relatable to any kid or anyone to say, ‘I don’t have to be born with a sense of destiny.’ Anyone can have that destiny thrust upon them.”
Netflix has created a lusciously crafted universe, where our heroes soar over roiling seas aboard bison that fly and armies battle with staffs, mid-air flips and power blasts. Port cities teem with elegant sailing ships, costumes are colorful and pockets of humor and romance leaven the action sequences.
“It’s such a deep show,” says Gordon Cormier, born just a year after the original animated show ended its run and who now plays Aang. “Like the cartoon, it has so many character arcs and just amazing stories.”
Aang teams up with Katara and Sokka to travel around their world, looking for clues for a way to channel his inner Avatar. There are plenty of slo-mo martial arts face-offs and mind-blowing manipulations of the elements.
Cast members were quick to give credit to showrunner and executive producer Albert Kim for being true to the beloved animated series while developing elements and crafting it for a live-action audience.
“I’m a fan of the original animated series myself and we wanted to do it justice,” says Lee. “We wanted to make sure that the OG fans were happy with it, but at the same time, we’re not just giving them beat by beat the exact same thing because it already exists.”
Dallas Liu, whose credits include PEN15 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, plays the Fire Nation’s crown prince and says Albert Kim helped them give the Netflix series its own identity.
“I think we found a very nice balance of staying faithful, but also allowing people who have never seen the show to watch a similar journey that still holds the essence of the original series.”