We're in the midst of a Last Airbender revival. Now only is there a live-action remake show between seasons on Netflix, but original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are making a new series of animated projects, including a movie that follows up with Aang, Katara and the rest of the old gang from the original show as adults. The movie is called The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender:
That movie was originally scheduled to come out on October 10 of this year. Then it got pushed back to January 30 of 2026. Now, according to Variety, it's been pushed back again, all the way to October 9, 2026, meaning it's moved a full year past its original release date.
It's hard to miss what you haven't seen, so I'm okay with the delay so long as the finished product turns out good. According to Animation Magazine, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is being animated by Studio Mir, who've worked on shows like Devil May Cry on Netflix and X-Men '97 on Disney+.
Why is the original cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender getting replaced for the movie?
So far, we only know of one voice actor from the original Last Airbender show returning for the movie: Dante Basco, who played conflicted fire prince Zuko. Otherwise, a lot of the main characters are getting new voices. Jessica Matten will play Katara, replacing Mae Whitman. Dionne Quan will play Dionne Quan, replacing Michaela Jill Murphy. Román Zaragoza will play Sokka, replacing Jack De Sena. And Eric Nam will play Aang, replacing Zach Tyler Eisen.
The characters will be adults in the movie where as they were kids in the show, so it makes some sense that they would get new voice actors. But that's not all there is to the change, as casting director Jenny Jue explained during a Reddit AMA. “Since the original show was released, there’s been more emphasis in VO to match actors’ ethnic/racial background to the characters they’re portraying,” she said. “ATLA is a fictional world, but there are cultural influences for each nation/kingdom, and we wanted to explore the talent from those groups.”
"I can’t say much more about it the film, except that I’m really proud of this cast and I hope the other fans keep an open mind to this new iteration of our beloved characters!"
The world of Avatar: The Last Airbender is heavily influenced by Asian and indigenous cultures, and the new voice actors reflect that. Other cast members include heavy hitters Steven Yeun and Dave Bautista, although we don't know who they're playing yet.
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h/t IGN, ComicBook.com