Avatar: The Last Airbender announces new “series,” but it’s not what you think

Last week, the official Avatar: The Last Airbender YouTube channel revealed that “a new, original series” was on the way as soon as April 24. Fans came out in droves to share their excitement,  perhaps energized by the creation of Avatar Studios, which will be making lots of new Avatar shows and movies over the coming years. But many were let down to learn the new show is a fan-driven chat series.

A shiny new Avatar discussion series definitely isn’t a bad thing at all. If anything, it shows how passionate the fanbase is for a show that first premiered way back in 2005. I’m sure the discussion videos are wonderful, but the main criticism from fans is about what they thought this series would be. As reported by fan-site Avatar News, the announcement from the official Avatar Youtube channel definitely seemed to imply that this was something big, maybe a new animated series. Unfortunately, that proved to be a disappointing, probably accidental, troll.

The original announcement teased a three-day “Earth Day” event, complete with live streams, original videos and a “new, original series exclusively on this channel.” However, before fans could get too excited about a potential new animated series, the channel quickly amended the community post to read, “A new, fan-led original discussion series exclusively on this channel.”

Watch a trailer for the new Avatar: The Last Airbender series

But by that time, fans had already gotten their hopes up. We now have a trailer for the all-new discussion series, Four Nations Forum, which sees Last Airbender superfans gather in a video call to argue plot points and defend their positions. Which element is the strongest? What is the best episode? And so on:

It’s sure to be a lot of fun. If you’re interested in joining the discussion, the series will run for eight episodes beginning April 24.

As the Avatar universe expands, expect a lot more fan chatter; there should be plenty to discuss. It’s said that the first project out of Avatar Studios will be a feature movie. And unlike the turbulent Netflix live-action remake, the new studio is headed up by original creators and executive producers Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. “With this new Avatar Studios venture we have an unparalleled opportunity to develop our franchise and its storytelling on a vast scale, in myriad exciting ways and mediums,” they told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year.

The Avatar universe is about to get a lot bigger. I’m here for it.

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