WATCH: Netflix drops fantastical first trailer, premiere date of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' live-action
Avatar fans only have a few more months to wait before they can witness Aang become a master airbender.
Netflix, through its first trailer, has given another look at its live-action adaptation of the beloved animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, during Geeked Week 2023.
The nearly two-minute trailer didn’t wait to get into the action as it opened with the infamous attack of the Fire Nation, a major battle that lasted for a hundred years and led to the destruction of the Air Nomads, all except for Aang.
It then spotlights the main characters of the series, including Katara, Sokka, Uncle Iroh, and Suki, as well as the Fire Nation’s Fire Lord Ozai, Zuko, and Azula before Aang finally makes an appearance and showcases his airbending powers.
The teaser concludes as Aang, Katara, and Sokka ride Aang’s loyal sky bison Appa across breathtaking lands, accompanied by a winged lemur named Momo.
Netflix has been teasing photos of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender cast, starting with Aang, Katara, and Sokka in June and followed by Zuko, Ozai, Iroh, Zhao, and Azula in October.
This was followed by Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as General Iroh, Ken Leung as Commander Zhao, and Elizabeth Yu as Princess Azula in October.
The original animated series first premiered in 2005 and went on to have three seasons.
The Netflix remake is expected to follow the original storyline of how the four nations—Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads—once lived in harmony, with the Avatar keeping the peace between them, until the Fire Nation wiped out the Air Nomads.
But the last Air Nomad–a young boy named Aang–reawakens, becoming the world’s last hope as the next Avatar to restore peace to the world. Alongside his newfound friends, Aang embarks on a quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai.
Albert Kim, who serves as showrunner for the upcoming remake, promised fans that the new series will be as faithful to the original as possible while also offering more for the audience.
“A live-action version can not only faithfully translate what had been done in animation—it can bring a rich new visual dimension to a fantastic world. We’ll be able to see bending in a real and visceral way we’ve never seen before,” Kim wrote in a statement.
“We’ll be expanding and growing the world, and there will be surprises for existing fans and those new to the tale. But throughout this process, our byword has been “authenticity.” To the story. To the characters. To the cultural influences,” he added.
Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres on Netflix on Feb. 22, 2024 with eight hour-long episodes.
