Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series isn’t the only Avatar story en route to screens. Paramount and Nickleodeon just announced that not just one but three new animated Avatar films are in development, with the first to be directed by Lauren Montgomery (a storyboard artist on ATLA and supervising producer on The Legend of Korra).
Series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino are involved in these movies, serving as producers along with ATLA executive producer Eric Coleman. (Konietzko and DiMartino are not involved with the live-action series, which they left over creative differences.) According to Entertainment Weekly, the three movies will be standalone stories, not a connected series. Nothing has been announced about the story or characters.
The Avatar series told the story of Aang, a young boy who wakes from a long frozen sleep to find he’s the last airbender—and the Avatar, the once-in-a-generation bender who can master all four elements. He befriends a waterbender named Katara and her brother Sokka, all of whom are pursued by the powerful Fire Nation and its exiled Prince Zuko. The popular and beloved series ran for three seasons and was followed by The Legend of Korra, which focused on the Avatar who follows Aang.
Will the film follow another reincarnation of the Avatar? Look backwards into the past for those who came before Aang? Animation is such a precise and slow process that it’ll probably be a while before we find out.
