Fans Turn on Live-Action 'Avatar' Series Following Major Retcon

Is Netflix sealing Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s fate with this reveal?

Credit: Netflix

The Avatar franchise began with Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko’s anime-influenced original series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, which ran from 2005 to 2008 on Nickelodeon. Although The Last Airbender (also known as The Legend of Aang in some regions) was aimed at kids, it had its fair share of adult fans.

Credit: Paramount

Avatar garnered widespread critical acclaim during its initial popularity surge in the 2000s. It experienced a further boost in recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic when the series became available to stream on Netflix. This brought in a fresh audience of adults rediscovering the show, or experiencing it for the first time.

So good was Avatar that the outdated 4:3 ratio of the original series posed no obstacle to its steadfast popularity.

Credit: Random House Children’s Books

This dogged love for the series ought to give one some idea of the overwhelming love fans have for this series.

Considering the long-awaited live-action Avatar television series is set to hit Netflix streaming on February 29, 2024, the hype for this debut is more or less off the charts.

It’s even more fascinating that the new live-action remake of Avatar‘s Book One (Season 1), previously lauded by fans for appearing wholly faithful to the original, is now getting panned for cutting a rather significant plot point from the animated series.

Credit: Netflix

What Is Being Cut From Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender?

To explain the Avatar fan perspective, it is important to remember the much-maligned The Last Airbender movie by director M. Night Shyamalan in 2010 — particularly for how overwhelmingly hated it was by fans and critics alike.

Fans are now expressing upset over Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender cutting out the sexism in the plot.

Now, Avatar fans are not particularly pro-misogyny — it’s just that a major plot point within the original tale saw sexism deliberately overturned and subverted, being tied to the main character arc of one of its main characters, Sokka.

Credit: Netflix

In an interview with Variety, the cast of the new series Kiawentiio (Katara) and Ian Ousley (Sokka) explained some of the major changes coming to the Netflix series. Kiawentiio and Ousley explained how the creators “redirected” and “took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was”. The article, when shared to Variety’s X (formerly Twitter), immediately blew up.

Concerned replies and outpourings of dread from fans of the original series flooded social media, with users like @Browntable_Ent’s quote repost of the article going viral, stating:

@Browntable_Ent: Oh they’re STUPID

@Variety: Netflix’s live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series is toning down the sexism.

“We took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy,” says Kiawentiio (Katara).

“Yeah, totally,” adds Ian Ousley (Sokka). “There are things that were redirected just because it might play a little differently [in live action].”

Read more: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/n

Oh they’re STUPID https://t.co/W6UsFMzQUo

— Mau | Browntable (@Browntable_Ent) January 30, 2024

Fans seem really upset, as the comments on the article indicate a significant shift in audience perception regarding Netflix’s new live-action show.

Many, like user Solisis Dicax, are upset that the show’s creators are throwing out crucial character development to simply remove the optics of a potentially “sexist” teen character:

I could write a 2 hour long video essay on why Sokka’s sexism was important to his character arc, growing and accepting the powerful women in his life was a major plot point for him. From the beginning of meeting the Kiyoshi and to watching his sister become a master bender.

I could write a 2 hour long video essay on why Sokka's sexism was important to his character arc, growing and accepting the powerful women in his life was a major plot point for him. From the beginning of meeting the Kiyoshi and to watching his sister become a master bender.

— Solisis Dicax (@BLHUPublishing) January 30, 2024

Sokka’s main story arc in the first season follows the young Water Tribe boy, who is brought up in a somewhat patriarchal society. With all the men leaving to fight in the war against the Fire Nation, Sokka was left the sole male in the tribe.

The teen character grew up with “sexist” ideals that women were weaker, with no one to teach him otherwise — until he was put in place by the formidable all-female Kyoshi Warriors and his own sister Katara later in the Season, who becomes a powerful Waterbender capable of defeating their sister tribe’s (sexist) male leader.

User Mike Carolla shares this poignant clip from the original series, where the young Sokka is shown learning his lesson, finally asking for training from all-female teen warriors — ending with a statement of disappointment:

it’s literally apart of his character arc that Sokka learns how stupid his sexist views were and begs the Kyoshi Warriors to teach him

this show is gonna suck

it’s literally apart of his character arc that Sokka learns how stupid his sexist views were and begs the Kyoshi Warriors to teach him

this show is gonna suck pic.twitter.com/4HPBIDrX3h

— Mike Carolla (@SJTimes13) January 30, 2024

Fans, on the whole, appear disappointed, as many wanted the show to adapt the original story well and are losing faith in the remake for the “unnecessary” changes — that were simple enough for children to understand “in a Nickelodeon animated show”:

This is so unnecessary and very disappointing to hear.

If it was good enough and okay for children to understand in a Nickelodeon animated show then why the hell would it be bad to just translate the source material in live action?

This is so unnecessary and very disappointing to hear.

If it was good enough and okay for children to understand in a Nickelodeon animated show then why the hell would it be bad to just translate the source material in live action?

— Cell (@DekuFinalFlash) January 29, 2024

Fans are already mourning the series following this news, with many finding this change “demeaning” and blaming the studios for this overly sanitized approach:

Brooksie C. Fontaine: Sokka is supposed to be a flawed character who grows throughout the series. I’d say they’re being demeaning to viewers by assuming we don’t understand the concept of a character flaw, but clearly THEY themselves don’t understand what a character flaw is either.

Sokka is supposed to be a flawed character who grows throughout the series.

I'd say they're being demeaning to viewers by assuming we don't understand the concept of a character flaw, but clearly THEY themselves don't understand what a character flaw is either.

— Brooksie C. Fontaine (@BrooksieCFonta1) January 30, 2024

@KMNDR_: Damn, studios are terrfied to even have character development now.

Its over lmao

Damn, studios are terrfied to even have character development now.

Its over lmao

— Komrade + Kommander (@KMNDR_) January 30, 2024

It is fascinating how quickly the general consensus is turning sour, considering the fan response to the trailers was almost overwhelmingly positive.

One cannot help but wonder if changes like this prompted the show’s original creators, Konietzko and DiMartino, initially tied to the live-action adaptation, to leave the project to set up Avatar Studios under Paramount+ (Paramount Plus).

Avatar Studios is a fully-fledged, Avatar-centric studio dedicated to continuing the stories from the original Avatar: Legend of Korra and Last Airbender series. The studio is already working on a prequel show, another following young adult Avatar Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen), Fire Lord Zuko (Dante Basco), and the rest of “Team Avatar”, as well as a series set in the future of the Avatar world after Avatar Korra (Janet Varney).

Has Netflix made a blunder with the removal of these “sexist” character flaws? Will you be watching the Avatar live-action series? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

More on Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender

In September 2018, Netflix announced plans for a “reimagined” live action Avatar remake, set to commence production in 2019. The original creators, DiMartino and Konietzko, were set to serve as executive producers and showrunners, expressing their commitment to adapting the series with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast. Jeremy Zuckerman, the composer for the original show, was also confirmed to return for the remake’s music.

However, on August 12, 2020, both Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko announced their departure from the project on social media, citing creative differences. In February 2021, Albert Kim was revealed as the new showrunner. Later that August, casting details emerged, with Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio Tarbell, Ian Ousley, and Dallas Liu securing the roles of the Air Nomad and Avatar Aang, Southern Water Tribe siblings Katara and Sokka, and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, respectively.

Daniel Dae Kim, who previously voiced General Fong in the original series, was subsequently cast as Fire Lord Ozai, alongside Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Lim Kay Siu, and Ken Leung in their respective roles as Uncle Iroh (General Iroh, Dragon of the West, Conqueror of Ba Sing Se), Monk Gyatso, and Commander Zhao (later General Zhao). Elizabeth Yu, Maria Zhang, Yvonne Chapman, Casey Camp-Horinek, and Tamlyn Tomita joined as Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, Kyoshi Warrior Suki, Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom, Grandma Kanna AKA Gran Gran, and Yukari (an original character), respectively.