Avatar: The Last Airbender Live Action Series

Whelp if its going to be a trainwreck. Lets hope its at least an over the top So Bad, It's Good one ala the neftlix Death note movie. Gives us memes and stuff to laugh at.

Why even go forward at this point? It hasn’t left pre-production, now would be the time to kill it and allocate the resources elsewhere.

Edit - Deleted debunked article.

Edited by Beatman1 on Aug 14th 2020 at 11:12:19 AM

Those sound like the most obvious answers; money, casting and tone are the usual suspects when it comes to Creative Differences. This also sound similar to the movie, as they were involved in a consultant capacity before being edged out (I don't blame Shyamalan for that movie either, I don't think he was the right choice in the first place and you can often see where it goes from solid and faithful to mechanical and bland).

Netflix wanting to age the characters up is actually one of the most plausible reasons, given the labor laws regarding child actors and how difficult it would be to find kids of the right ethnicity who also can act and have some martial arts ability.

I'm skeptical about the claims Netflix wanting to cast white actors for the roles given the controversy the live action movie got for that decision and Netflix has had a lot of diversity in their output. The budgetary concerns and the desire for more focus on romance as well as inclusion of sex and blood seem more plausible.

Apparently the article is fake, not only is FandomWire known for clickbait articles, but apparently they have no source for where they got this info.

And looking for the originator of said info, leads to a former member of ScreenJunkies who was let go for sexual harrasment and attempted sexual assault, who now has a Youtube channel where he frequent posts lies and or unconfirmed theories that people were concerned about and then acts as if they were confirmed as real.

Admittedly this is why I asked how reliable they were. Ok, false alarm.

Well false alarm their

Still curious why bryke left .

I think it will be obvious once they say anything concrete about this show.

Is anything really in production right now because of covid anyway?

Things are back in production. Supernatural is back to filming from what I heard.

But I don't think this is. Have we even heard of any casting?

Edited by Bullman on Aug 19th 2020 at 9:43:20 AM

We've heard zero; normally the first step is to write the show bible and some initial scripts and outlines. It sounds like this is where they bumped heads with the execs. So the production didn't get very far.

From everything I’ve heard this is still in pre-production. Early pre-production at that. No casting, no set design, and if Bryke’s statements are accurate, no set series bible.

I honestly expect in a few months to hear that the show was quietly cancelled like so many other productions. The only reason to not do so would be if they sunk in enough cash or started building sets, but the showrunners haven’t even hinted at reaching that stage of the production.

Of course that goes back to what Avatar is and what Netflix wants.

Edited by Beatman1 on Aug 19th 2020 at 4:28:49 AM

I don't know. Netflix probably burned off a lot of money and influence to get the rights from Nickelodeon to get this project done. Cancelling it without warning is relatively unlikely, though possible.

There's also the broader point Netflix is aware that their biggest hit of all time, Stranger Things, is on its way out and they need something else to fill its niche. ATLA sounds very possibly like a replacement if it works out. Likely also the reason for their One Piece adventure.

As with many things, I would be lying if I said I knew exactly what was going on.

Around 2018-2019, Netflix acquired the rights for LA adaptations of no less than four shows, Cowboy Bebop (which has resumed filming), One Piece (which is supposed to begin filming next month in South Africa), Sword Art Online (which has gone dead and has an entry in the Development Hell page) and Avatar. Given what happened to SAO, I could see Avatar meeting a similar fate if all they’ve done is argue about the series bible and how to go about it, rather than investing money into the physical and things like sets and props.

I also think that the things that make Avatar special for people make it difficult to monetize. It sounds strange, but Avatar merch has never done well. The story, if you want to be faithful to it, is about kids, has a pacifist main character, and its philosophical journey is part of the point of it all. If they came to the show wanting to make a prestige drama and found Avatar didn’t fit that formula, well sorry, but those elements are what the fandom treasures (see the nuclear response to the false rumors about the change in tone), so you changing them means that it won’t work.

Maybe the could get away with the change in tone if they didn't bother adapting the animated show and made a prequel or sequel series instead

Honestly, Avatar could benefit from a change in tone. The world Bryke crafted demands some maturity, the backdrop is a bloody war after all. But all the expanded universe stuff is just so kid friendly to the point of why bother?

I mean the Kyoshi novels are less child friendly than most expanded universe materials but an Avatar adaptation should definitely be child friendly.

There will need to be small changes in tone rather than sweeping modifications. As funny as they are, things like foamy guy, cactus juice, Wang Fire and even Bumi's personality probably won't work outside animation (the cabbage vendor is a big maybe).

The cabbage vendor is easy in live action: Fruit Cart. But you're right about the rest potentially seeming too wacky.

Which leads to the question of why adapt it in live action anyways?

Edited by Bullman on Aug 23rd 2020 at 11:29:42 AM

...Wang Fire would definitely work in live action. Goofy disguises are a part of a ton of TV shows.

As for Bumi? I can't see a problem with his personality. He's just a crazy old guy. Those exist.

It sounds like the problem is more that the live action avatar isn't trying to be funny than any genre limitations.

Edited by Joshbones on Aug 23rd 2020 at 10:56:05 AM

This is why, from the start, I was hoping it was a new story rather than just a live-action remake. Kyoshi has about the right tone for the "Game of Thrones lite" that I have a feeling they are going for; there's sexual content and people die on screen, but Kyoshi still isn't killing people left and right and there are no actual sex scenes.

"Game of Thrones lite" wouldn't be good for an adaptation of the original series, though.

Katara will reportedly be 16 and Sokka will be 14 but Aang will still be 12[1]