New Avatar: The Last Airbender TV show, CG animated movies on the way

Image: Avatar: The Last Airbender/Nickelodeon
Image: Avatar: The Last Airbender/Nickelodeon

It seemed like the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise went from 0 to 160 really fast. The original Nickelodeon animated series is still beloved by fans, but the last new Avatar content came out in 2014, when The Legend of Korra aired its series finale. Suddenly, Netflix is producing a live-action remake of the original show and original series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino re-teamed with Nickelodeon to found Avatar Studios, which will create even more Avatar content.

The resurgence probably started when the original show became available on Netflix and a whole new generation of people found out how incredible it is. In any case, it’s leading to an embarrassment of riches for fans. Nickelodeon exec Brian Robbins gave a little update on the animated side of things on the ViacomCBS video series Streaming On:

"One of the other big projects that we’re working on, on the theatrical front is Avatar. We signed a deal to bring the original creators of Avatar back into the studios. They started Avatar Studios, and they’re well on their way in development on a series of CG films and a new Avatar series."

So we’re getting CG animated Avatar movies — think Pixar films, only probably not as well animated — and a new TV show; we don’t know whether that one will be CG animated, have the more traditional hand-drawn look of the earlier series, or what.

The new Last Airbender movies and show could go anywhere

We also don’t know what these new movies and TV shows could be about. Avatar is set in a world where the power of the Avatar manifests anew in every generation; there have been many Avatars over the years, so Konietzko and Dante DiMartino have a lot of room to maneuver. They could make new stories starring Avatar we’ve already met — like Aang from The Last Airbender or Korra from The Legend of Korra — or introduce entirely new sets of characters. Since they’re working with both movies and a TV show, I imagine it’ll be a little of both.

However the show ends up looking and what it’s going to be about, expect to be available on both Nickelodeon and Paramount+, which is ViacomCBS’ streaming service. And all this is on top of Netflix’s live-action remake, which has already announced its cast. Is there such a thing as too much Avatar: The Last Airbender? We’ll find out soon enough.

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h/t Collider