New Avatar: The Last Airbender movie will have Aang as an adult, Dave Bautista as a villain

First he wins our 2024 Fandom Madness tournament, and now this: Variety reports that Aang, the title character from the beloved Nickelodeon show Avatar: The Last Airbender, will be at the center of an animated Last Airbender movie coming out next year. The working title is Aang: The Last Airbender. While we don't know much about the plot, it will feature Aang as a full-grown adult, something many fans have long wanted to see. The original series, which ran for three seasons in the mid-2000s, featured a young Aang going off on an adventure to save the world with his friends. The recent live-action Netflix remake retells that story, with Gordon Cormier playing Aang.

This new movie has nothing to do with the Netflix show. Instead, it's being made by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios, and overseen by original Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. DiMartino and Konietzko were originally managing the Netflix remake, but they left in 2020 over creative differences. "I realized I couldn’t control the creative direction of the series, but I could control how I responded. So, I chose to leave the project," DiMartino said at the time.

Although I doubt the people involved would want to frame it this way, it's hard not to look at these different Last Airbender projects — one animated, one live-action; one with the original creators, one without; one taking the franchise to new places, one rehashing the old story; one made by Paramount, one by Netflix — and not see them as being in competition with each other. But fans can hash that out when Aang: The Last Airbender comes out on October 10, 2025.

Eric Nam will play adult Aang in Aang: The Last Airbender movie

We also know the voice cast for the new movie. Aang will be played by Korean singer and actor Eric Nam, while Dave Bautista will play an as-yet-unnamed villain. Jessica Matten, Roman Zaragoza and Dionne Quan are also part of the voice cast, voicing grown-up versions of Aang's friends Katara, Sokka and Toph respectively.

Aang: The Last Airbender is the first of three animated movies that DiMartino and Konietzko are working on. It's unknown if the other two movies will stick with Aang or explore other areas of The Last Airbender mythology. Perhaps one could follow up The Last Airbender sequel series The Legend of Korra, which is set decades later?

Meanwhile, the second season of the Netflix remake is on the way. Everything's suddenly coming up Avatar.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.