The internet is buzzing today with the official announcement of Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
The new series takes place 70 years after the original series and follows the new Avatar, a water-bender named Korra as she masters the four elements. On her journey to master Air, she meets Aang’s son, Tenzin, in the center of the new Avatar world Republic City.
Based on that small amount of information alone, I am filled with questions. What do we know? Sadly, Aang is no longer alive…but 70 years isn’t THAT long. The rest of the gang would probably be in their 80s. What are the chances of seeing octogenarian versions of Katara, Sokka, and Toph? What is the new governmental structure of the world? Will we meet children of other Aang Gang members? I would love to see the child of Zuko and Mai. Or an extremely clumsy, yet badass child of Sokka and Suki? The questions keep on coming.
What questions are forming in your mind after this announcement? Will this new series forever erase the film from your mind?
Jordan Hamessley is an assistant editor at Grosset & Dunlap/PSS at Penguin Books for Young Readers where she edits the Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Dinosaur Train publishing programs, as well as developing original series. She is also an assistant editor for Lightspeed Magazine. She can be found on Twitter as @thejordache.
Will it have the same writers as the original series?
I’m definitely interested. I hope it turns out to be as entertaining as the original series!
This makes me insanely happy. Of particular interest is the steampunk Republic City thing.
The ‘fighting crime, living in a city and dealing with anti-bender sentiments’ concept is way toned down from the epic world-ending ATLA, but it seems right – some dude killed half of a kingdom with his crazy fire powers, damned straight people are going to be a little mistrustful of kung fu superheroes. This could be very cool.
I do hope there are some moves towards cleaning up threads in the previous series, however *cough* Zuko’s mom *cough*.
Oh man! I love the series so much…I’m equally excited and scared by this news. But mostly EXCITED!!!!!
The thing that worries me is that it’s not clear from the press release thingie that BryKe will be involved. They’re listed as the show’s “creators”, but on the other hand James Bond was created by Ian Fleming and he doesn’t exactly have an active role in the movies anymore…
Wow. I’m holding a bag of mixed feelings on this one. I LOVED Avatar and its characters. I don’t know if I want NEW characters to fall in love with. And the travesty that was The Last Airbender in theaters has me wary of new writers or “creative direction.” I guess I’ll shelf this news under “wait and see.”
One good thing already: the main protagonist is female! And from the looks on that image, she is one tough girl.
Second: Steampunk! The Fire Nation was already well on its way to Steampunk goodness, so 70 years of progress in that direction is very feasible.
Zuko and Mei’s child would be the ruler of the Fire Nation by this time too, and Korra being from the Southern Water Tribe means she MUST have had contact with Katara, or at least knowledge. After all, Katara became the one remaining bender from the Southern tribe.
Squeee! Super excited – I know the Byrke & Co were excited about this announcement and I can’t wait. I really hope that Aaron Ehasz is involved. STEAMPUNK DELICIOUS /squeeing fan girl
You know, judging from the way she looks from behind, Korra could almost look like the daughter (or granddaughter?) of Sokka and Suki. That’s just a thought, though…I’m not completely sold on the idea of an anti-bending revolt in a scummy city, but I’m sure that if anybody could make it work and make it awesome, it’d be Mike and Bryan.
Looks good; can’t wait to see it. Should be interesting to see the fall out of the war, given how large the Fire Nation was by the end, and how ‘OMG EVERYTHING MUST BE SEPARATE’ the underlying themes of Avatar are.
There was a movie?
This is bittersweet. On the one hand, it sounds like a really great set of ideas to explore (female Avatar, Aang & Katara’s son, elder Gaang and their kids/grandkids, steampunk, rebuilt cities, industrial revolution, and the good ol’ “fear of those not like us”). On the other, the finality of beloved characters growing old and dying is ALWAYS sad. We want to remember them as carefree kids riding off into the sunset with tons of unknown adventure in store.
It sounds interesting, but I’d be even more excited if the new main character wasn’t the Avatar. It would let the story go in a different direction and avoid repeating the same drama about being chosen by destiny and mastering the elements. They’ve got a big, detailed world and are very good at making the non-Avatar characters interesting. Making a direct “next generation” sequel seems like a wasted opportunity. Not that I’m not looking forward to it regardless.
I’m so excited I can’t breathe. Though the lack of breathing may also be a result of the nervousness at whether or not this will turn out great…
Well, my mind has been set at ease about BryKe’s involvement in the new show.
I sure hope there aren’t as many long hiatuses in this new one as there were in the first one.
The rest of the gang would be in their late 80’s or 90’s. I’d think we’d be talking about grand children and great grand children at this point.
@14 I like how BryKe avoid the “What did you think of the movie” question…
@15 Well, Bumi was over a hundred in the original series, and Avatar Kyoshi lived for over TWO hundred years. Given that earthbenders tend to live longer than average, I’m absolutely certain that Toph, at least, is still around and still kicking every bit as much butt as ever. Who knows what she’s learned how to bend by now?
@16 Well what do you realistically expect them to say? “Yeah, it sucked, we think Night totally screwed the pooch”? In what universe are they going to unprofessionally pee all over a multimillion dollar movie (of which two sequels remain to be made, and which they’ll probably have some involvement with, to note) regardless of what they might think about it? Yeah, the reporter had to ask, but it’s not like the people who made one cartoon epic and want to make another are going to stick their feet so thoroughly down their own throats.
Anyway, I like to think “Ember Island Players” serves as their ahead-of-time acknowledgment that the movie was likely to suck from the outset. :)
For the last few years I’ve been telling friends that “Avatar:The Last Airbender” is one of the best original animated shows I’ve ever seen. And I’m really excited that Bryan and Mike are going to be involved with creating this new series. I am concerned that it will be following similar territory, i.e. the Avatar mastering the elements again, but if anyone can bring freshness and interest to a story, it’s those guys.
ow.. this is a tragic situation. we have james cameron avatar… is strange because the name Avatar remender the animation Avatar!!!… Airbender Master is stranger title….
On her journey to master Air
I’m not that familiar with the universe, but wouldn’t that make her the airbender *after* the last airbender?
This is great news. I have no desire to see the movie in theaters but a new cartoon series- I can do that. too bad they probably won’t be bringing in any of the original characters. Maybe Aang can be a spirit adviser.
For anyone worried about this being a quest to master elements, again, it’s been announced that Korra already knows water, earth, and fire -bending. She has to seek out Aang’s son Tenzin to learn air. So it’s not like she’s going to be questing to learn all of the elements. This series should be a nice new plotline.
We just finished Book 1: Water on Netflix last night. I have been thouroughly enjoying the series. Hope the next is as good!
Im crying, i can’t believe its allready been 70 years, and our hero is dead..