Has the Wind Gone Out of the Last Airbender Franchise’s Sails?

Eighteen years since the end of the original series and twelve since the end of its sequel series The Legend of Korra, the Avatar: The Last Airbender series finally makes a triumphant return with its first feature length film! This time around the stakes have never been higher, not just for the characters but for Nickelodeon and Paramount. Despite having a veracious fanbase, it's been a long time since the prime of the series. Have the viewers from a decade ago outgrown this cartoon, or is this the legacy sequel that cements the next generation of fans?

Set a decade after the original series, Aang and his friends embark on their first big adventure as adults, meeting an ancient airbender named Tagah (voiced by Dave Bautista) and aiding him in his quest to retrieve a legendary staff with the power to bring the lost art of airbending back into the world. As a longtime fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA), I was over the moon back in 2021 when Nickelodeon announced the formation of an entire studio dedicated to projects in the world of Avatar. A year later, revealed that their first project would be a film set between Korra and the original series. Although the follow up series explored the later adult lives of many of the original series’ iconic characters, the fates of others were left deliberately ambiguous. Unfortunately, those seeking closure for their favorites will have to wait, as the conclusion of this film makes clear that there are still plenty of stories to tell during Aang’s tenure as the Avatar. Now, whether we will see any of those stories on the big or small screen, is a different matter entirely. 

It is no secret that this film had a troubled release, with its theatrical release being pulled in favor of a direct to streaming approach, followed by a complete and total leak of the finished film onto the internet. Within days of the initial leak, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender was readily available on countless illegal streaming sites across the internet, with clips flooding social media faster than Paramount could take them down. Some fans pointed the finger at Paramount management, claiming that they had either purposely sabotaged the franchise, or had done so accidentally by negligently allowing the film to be leaked. While I personally find such claims of willful self-sabotage dubious there is no doubt that this whole incident has significantly damaged the relationships not only between Paramount and the fans, but between Paramount and Avatar studios.

Despite reaching #1 on Paramount+ in multiple countries, the critical and fan reaction to Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender has been lukewarm for the first return to a beloved franchise in over a decade. Unfortunately, as someone who remembers begging my parents to let me stay up to watch the series finale air back in 2008, the tepid reaction to the film makes complete sense.

Visually, Avatar Aang is the best the series has ever looked. It is undeniable that Avatar Studios’ animation team poured every last drop of their blood, sweat, and tears into crafting the pure visual delight that is this film. However, this film’s storyline does not live up to that same quality. Without getting into spoiler territory, certain elements of this film will feel uncomfortably familiar to fans of The Legend of Korra, specifically the ideology of this film’s villains, a group of non-benders calling themselves “The Denied”. Unlike the villains of that show, (The Equalists, The Red Lotus, and The New Earth Empire) all of whom each had an entire season of TV dedicated to fleshing out their motivations, “The Denied” come off as fairly derivative, highly hypocritical, and worst of all, entirely unmemorable outside of their conflict with our main characters. Other new entries to the series in the form of Avatar Xian, Tagah, and Avatar Sonam left more of an impact as characters, but regardless, also fell into many of the tropes already explored by The Legend of Korra.

While the idea of an Adult Avatar film has been almost universally praised by fans, questions about who gets to play those iconic characters as they age have inevitably come up. While I commend Avatar Studio’s decision to recast the older versions of our characters I struggle with the casting of fan-favorite, Zuko. Aside from that, and despite understanding why it was done, I still feel it was a mistake for Dante Bosco, the iconic original voice of Zuko, to have not been brought back in some form for this project. As the oldest of the group, Zuko’s voice was the least likely to change as he aged. Personal preference aside, I praise the cast, especially Eric Nam, Dionne Quan, and Román Zaragoza, for their dedication to and skill in embodying these beloved characters, and I hope, despite my bitter doubts, that we will be hearing more of them in the not so distant future. 

Ultimately, as a film, Avatar Aang relegates itself to being a visually exceptional piece of fan-service. Those who love the franchise will have some very shiny keys dangled in front of them, but may ultimately find this film to be lacking in anything substantive that has not been explored before. As much as I would like to see this as the start of a new era, I can’t help but worry that the critical underperformance of this film, the hostile reception of Netflix’s live action series, and fan concerns could spell disaster for Avatar Studios in the moment, and the franchise as a whole down the line. Only time will tell if this was just a rocky start to something truly great, or the first tragic misstep on the road to ruin.