EXCLUSIVE
AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER The animation gets a shot at live-action redemption.
If your only experience of Avatar: The Last Airbender is 2010’s regrettable M. Night Shyamalan movie, reset your expectations for Netflix’s imminent live-action series. ‘Our goal was to make sure our version was faithful in spirit to the animation,’ says new show creator Albert Kim. ‘At the same time, we knew we had to appeal to a new generation of viewers who had never seen the original.’
The feudal fantasy world of The Last Airbender is split into four nations represented by different elements:
Water, Earth, Air and Fire. Within each nation there are Benders able to manipulate their corresponding element. Only the Avatar can control all four, traditionally serving to keep the peace. The Last Airbender picks up a century after the disappearance of the current Avatar, 12-year-old Aang (Gordon Cormier), as the militaristic Fire Nation under Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) is on the verge of taking over the world.
Featuring a predominantly Asian and indigenous cast, finding actors who could embody fan-favourite characters like waterbender Katara, her goofball brother Sokka, Ozai’s disgraced son Zuko, and especially Aang was a battle against the elements. ‘You want someone who captures the essence of that character, whether it’s the warmth or the childlike wonder or the humour,’ Kim says of Aang, a character who’s also a pre-teen martial-arts expert. ‘But we didn’t want some 20-yearold playing a 12-year-old kid!’
In the years since 2010, the Shyamalan film’s flimsy bending has been widely ridiculed – something visual-effects supervisor Marion Spates has a plan to avoid. ‘Our big goal was: if this was actually to be done in real life, what would it look like?’ he says. ‘For instance
