No, Aang can't fly, confirms Avatar: The Last Airbender showrunner

The first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a live-action version of the classic animated series, was a success on Netflix; we have two more seasons coming our way. We'll meet a lot more characters and visit many new locations, but it's still worth going over the basics. That's what current showrunner Jabbar Raisani did when The Direct asked him if there were any fan misconceptions about the show that surprised him.

"Yes, there is one thing that surprised me," Raisani said. "There was this common thread that Aang could fly. And I was like, 'No, Aang can't fly. Aang is falling with style.' I want to do a diagram to show exactly that he's always falling. It's the opening sequence mainly."

Aang is the titular last airbender, the only person in the Four Nations who's able to manipulate wind. Maybe it's because I watched the animated series way back when, but it had never occurred to me that someone could watch Aang dip and dive through the air with his glider and conclude that he was flying. But that just shows the limits of human perspective. We are all trapped in our own points of view, doomed to never be able to completely connect with another human being.

On second thought, Aang does look an awful lot like he's flying in this scene. Forget everything I said; I think the show itself may be at fault here. "I was like, 'No, that was, like, very clearly designed,’ obviously, not clearly enough," Raisani protested. "But to make sure that he's always falling, and I was like, 'No!' I'm gonna do a YouTube video, like he's not flying, he's falling.'"

Ian Ousley teases Sokka's arc in Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2

Meanwhile, some of the cast members of Avatar: The Last Airbender stopped by the Calgary Expo to talk up the show. Ian Ousley, who plays Aang's friend Sokka, discussed what we can expect from his character whenever the second season comes out:

"We focus in the series on Sokka losing his first girlfriend, originally, and I think that's going to take him a while to kind of emotionally mature and to be ready to open up his heart again, possibly? I think that's going to kind of— just seeing that much war... I think also [it] just messes with him as he's prepared for war so much and seeing the loss of it and how his responsibility was to protect Yue. He didn't accomplish his goal of protecting Yue, which wasn't his decision, but, yeah, I think that's going to open up a lot more reality for Sokka. I'm very excited to see how we focus on his humor, his relationships in the future."

Near the end of the first season, Sokka became involved with a Water Tribe princess named Yue (Amber Midthunder), who ended up dying in humanity's ongoing battle against the tyrannical Fire Nation. She won't be back, but Sokka will carry on.

The cameras haven't started rolling yet on Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2. We wouldn't expect it before 2025 at the earliest.

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.

h/t Collider