Later this year, Netflix will premiere its hugely anticipated live-action remake of Nickelodeon’s iconic animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Hopefully this version will do the original series justice, unlike M. Night Shyamalan’s pathetic 2010 live-action movie.
So far, the early signs are looking good: the series reportedly has a huge budget of around $15 million per episode, it uses some of the most advanced tech ever used in a Netflix series, and the casting has been on point. The only major stumbling block was the shocking exit of original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, both of whom departed due to creative differences.
One thing that will make or break the show is how it depicts bending, the ability of certain characters to manipulate the four elements: Water, Air, Fire and Earth. This ability is at the heart of the show’s action scenes.
Recently, Ken Do, the stunt coordinator on the remake, shared a clip from one of his Avatar fan films, featuring Diana Tsoy as fan-favorite earthbender Toph as she battles four enemies. Consider the my expectations raised for the upcoming show:
Avatar: The Last Airbender stunt coordinator gives promising preview of Netflix remake
Before we get carried away, Do has revealed that the clip is not connected in any way with the Netflix remake. Instead, it was his own little passion project. “It was actually just a fan film I had wanted to shoot for a while, but it also happened to be that 3 of the people involved in it, including myself and my producing partner (off camera), was also on the stunt team for Netflix’s live-action series,” he said, per Yahoo.
"The 3 being myself as the show’s fight coordinator while my producing partner, Megan Hui, was on the stunt team along with my friend Leslie Kwan. So in turn it had nothing to do with Netflix or our stunt team on the show as a whole, or else sharing it online would not be possible."
That minute-long clip is already much more faithful to the animated show than the rather silly version of bending we saw in the 2010 movie. The clip shared is high tempo, energetic, fast and chaotic, everything that a Last Airbender battle should be. There’s no comparison to the movie, which you can see below:
Netflix has yet to set a release date for Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it is expected to premiere sometime this year.
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