Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is making Aang’s adventures grounded by skipping his detours.
Netflix has already won fans’ hearts by bringing the live-action adaptation of the popular animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. While the trailer has created major hype among the show’s original fans, what has left them disappointed is that the streaming platform is making a similar mistake as The Witcher Show.
Despite having a great start, the Henry Cavill-led series grew criticism for its complex storytelling but the upcoming third season has further elevated matters. Just like the show, the upcoming live adaptation is also in a negative light due to Aang’s series showrunner, Albert Kim comments.
Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Took a Shortcut in Aang’s Journey
Ahead of its premiere this month, Avatar: The Last Airbender showrunner, Albert Kim and director, Jabbar Raisani give behind-the-scenes to IGN. While the new trailer has already amassed a positive response among the fans, Kim recently confirmed that the show will skip a major plot-line from the animated show for a ‘more narrative compulsion.’
When asked about what whether it stays the same as the original, the showrunner answered,
“Pretty much. Yeah, I mean, I think the state of the world and the stakes of the world are still the same. So we decided to make Aang’s narrative drive a little clearer.”
He further continued to share what changes have been made when compared to the animated show.
The live adaptation will not let Aang take a detour, leaving out his adventure like riding the Elephant Koi.
“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.”
He continued,
“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.”
While Kim’s statement asserts that Aang’s journey in the upcoming series will be more grounded than the animated show which took time to develop his character, it surely has left fans disappointed.
Fans React to Netflix’s Serialized Avatar: The Last Airbender Adaptation
Fans took to X to express their disappointment with the new update Kim shared regarding the upcoming series. One fan expressed his disappointment over the missing plot of “Aang’s journey and character arc in Book 1” before he accepts his responsibility.
