Fans call for Netflix to cancel Avatar: The Last Airbender remake

Avatar: The Last Airbender fans are incensed after possible details emerge revealing why the original creators walked away from the live-action remake.

Earlier this week, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender got the very upsetting news that original series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were walking away from Netflix’s live-action remake of the beloved animated epic. Dimartino and Konietzko both made statements, but neither gave many details on why exactly the duo made this decision, although the gist seemed to be that they didn’t agree with the direction that Netflix wanted to take the show.

“When Netflix brought me on board to run this series alongside Mike two years ago, they made a very public promise to support our vision,” Konietzko wrote on his Instagram. “Unfortunately, there was no follow-through on that promise. Though I got to work with some great individuals, both on Netflix’s side and on our own small development team, the general handling of the project created what I felt was a negative and unsupportive environment.”

"To be clear, this was not a simple matter of us not getting our way. Mike and I are collaborative people; we did not need all of the ideas to come from us. As long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them.However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series."

Both Dimartino and Konietzko cautioned that the show could still turn out well, but they will not be involved. Netflix also released a statement to The Verge:

"We have complete respect and admiration for Michael and Bryan and the story that they created in the Avatar animated series. Although they have chosen to depart the live action project, we are confident in the creative team and their adaptation."

So that’s a lot of vague words, but what exactly were the difficulties Dimartino and Konietzko had? Well, FandomWire claims it has spoken to “multiple sources inside Netflix” and gotten to the bottom of it.

Before we go any further, be advised to take these reports with a grain of salt. You can judge for yourself how believable you think they are. Ready?

The creators wanted a bigger budget

According to FandomWire, Dimartino and Konietzko wanted Netflix to give the series a bigger budget, but Netflix felt it had already spent enough for the creators to achieve their vision. The original show is a fantasy epic with a wholly invented world, elaborate magic system, trips into the spirit world, and more: I can see it getting expensive.

And keep in mind that Dimartino and Konietzko hadn’t worked in live-action before, so they may not at first have realized the full extent of how much it would cost to render all that with real people and real sets.

Netflix wanted the possibility of hiring white actors

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a show that draws on East Asian cultures for its world. When M. Night Shyamalan made his 2010 Last Airbender live-action movie, he infamously cast white actors as characters that, or the original show, were clearly people of color. (Except for the people of the villainous, totalitarian Fire Nation; Shyamalan cast Indian actors to play them.) The movie got a ton of blowback for this, so you’d figure the Netflix show wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistake. And indeed, shortly after the live-action remake was announced, DiMartino and Konietzko assured fans that the show would not be whitewashed.

According to FandomWire, although casting hadn’t begun in earnest yet, Netflix wanted the possibility of casting white actors in some roles, while DiMartino and Konietzko were adamant that no white actors be cast in the show.

Netflix wanted a darker tone

Finally, FandomWire claims that while DiMartino and Konietzko wanted the show to retain its kid-friendly ethos, Netflix wanted “a darker, mature tone with more romance, sex, and blood.” In keeping with this, they wanted to age up the characters of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko.

Now, if this is true, it does sound pretty bad, and I don’t blame DiMartino and Konietzko for walking. Twitter, naturally, is not pleased. #CancelATLALiveAction got trending pretty quick after the FandomWire article came out:

Is it true? I suspect we’ll have to wait for DiMartino and Konietzko to say something to find out for sure. In the meantime, some rumors are getting out of control; for instance, a rumor that white actor Joey King was auditioning for the role of Katara forced the actor, who says she’d never heard of the project before the accusations started, to go private on social media:

It’s sadness all around, pretty much.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels