Avatar: The Last Airbender returns with live-action Netflix series

Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino.
(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Once again, Netflix has given the people a much-desired revival. This time, the streaming service is working on a live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Netflix announced Tuesday it will adapt Avatar alongside its original creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino. The series is set to go into production in 2019 and will be produced in partnership with Nickelodeon, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Avatar: The Last Airbender first premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005 and subsequently went on to win both Emmy and Peabody Awards. The animated series follows a young boy named Aang as he tries to master control of the four elements — earth, air, fire, and water — and bring together four nations of warriors to take on an oppressive villain, all with the help of his friends.

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In a press release, the creators revealed that they're thrilled to bring the world of Avatar back to life. "We can't wait to realize Aang's world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone's great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action, and world-building," Konietzko and DiMartino said.

In 2010, M. Night Shyamalan directed a live-action Avatar film that was promptly panned. But Netflix says it's committed to honoring the creators' vision, so hopefully the new adaptation will, as General Iroh once told Aang, "come to a better place." Read more at The Hollywood Reporter.

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Amari Pollard

Amari Pollard is the social media editor at The Week and has written for Reader's Digest, Parents, and Inside Lacrosse. She studied journalism at Le Moyne College and can usually be found exploring Brooklyn, thrift shopping, or spending way too much money on brunch.