Nickelodeon expanding The Last Airbender universe, making animated movie

Every franchise seems to be getting the expanded universe treatment these days, and Nickelodeon revealed yesterday that its animated hit, Avatar: The Last Airbender, will go down a similar path. Per Deadline, the television network is launching Avatar Studios, a division dedicated to creating more content within the Avatar world.

The first project Avatar Studios is planning to bring fans is an animated film intended for theatrical release, though what the movie will be about remains a mystery. Production is set to begin on the film later this year.  M. Night Shyamalan adapted The Last Airbender as a live-action movie in 2010, but it was famously bad and we will speak no more of it.

Beyond that, we’ll see The Last Airbender content coming to streaming service Paramount+. “Avatar Studios will produce for Paramount+ a wide-range of Avatar-inspired content, ranging from spinoffs and theatricals to short form,” reads a press release.

Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators and executive producers for the original show, have been tapped as Avatar Studios’ co-chief creative officers. “It’s hard to believe it’s been 19 years since we created Avatar: The Last Airbender,” they told Entertainment Weekly. “But even after all that time, there are still many stories and time periods in Aang’s world that we are eager to bring to life.”

The two ceased their involvement with Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender last year, citing due to creative differences. It sounds like they’re more at home here. “We are exceedingly grateful to [Nickelodeon president] Brian Robbins and [president of Nickelodeon Animation] Ramsey Naito for their enthusiasm and respect for the Avatar property and us as its stewards,” they said.

And in turn, Robbins trusts them. “Creator-driven stories and characters have long been the hallmarks of Nickelodeon, and Avatar Studios is a way to give Mike and Bryan the resources and runway to open up their imaginations even more and dive deeper into the action and mythology of Avatar as we simultaneously expand upon that world and the world of content available on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon,” he said.

Did The Last Airbender’s surge in popularity lead to Avatar Studios?

Avatar: The Last Airbender has always been a popular series, but the show’s return to Netflix last year rejuvenated fan interest that had seemingly cooled up until that point. It quickly became one of the most-watched kids shows on the platform, with its sequel series, The Legend of Korra, not far behind.

It’s possible that this elevated fan interest is what led Nickelodeon and Paramount+ to consider an expanded universe for this series. After all, there are plenty of places and characters to explore — and if viewers are still invested in the Avatar world, why not dive further in?

What this development will mean for Netflix’s live-action series remains to be seen, but fans have already been questioning whether the remake will live up to the original, especially now that the creators have departed from the project. Whatever your feelings on the Netflix adaptation, though, one thing is certain: The Last Airbender fans are going to have plenty of content to look forward to from here on out.

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