Netflix’s The Last Airbender is looking better and better each time the streamer releases new images from the series, and this batch of images raise the stakes even higher.
As part of Netflix’s Winter Solstice celebration, the streaming service released a batch of new images featuring fan-favorite characters such as Jet (Sebastian Amoruso), June (Arden Cho), The Mechanist (Danny Pudi), Yukari (Tamlyn Tomita), Gran Gran (Casey Camp-Horinket) and of course, Aang (Gordon Cormier).
The series has been slowly gaining fandom appreciation due to the cast being primarily of Asian and Indigenous descent, much like how the characters from the original series were in their design. Fans were slow to accept Netflix’s series when it was first announced because they had been burned by M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 film adaptation, which, despite featuring Asian actors such as Dev Patel, also miscast actors and starred some who were not of Asian or Indigenous descent in Asian or Indigenous roles. In short, it was a mess, and became a box office failure.
The Netflix series, on the other hand, is showing promise of being more faithful to the animated series and the characters’ origins. The main cast for this live-action series include Cormier, Ian Ousley, Kiawentiio, Dallas Liu, Ken Leung, Elizabeth Yu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Daniel Dae Kim, leading fans to slowly raise their hopes of an accurate live-action representation of their beloved Nickelodeon series.
For those who didn’t watch the original series growing up, the story is set in a world in which people are born with the power to harness the elements through their bodies. The person who keeps the elements–and the nations associated with those elements–in balance is the Avatar, a reincarnated spirit who possesses the ability to bend all four elements. But one day, the Avatar goes missing for years. Eventually, the Avatar–an Air Nomad boy named Aang–reemerges from the ice.
Here’s more according to Netflix:
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope.
But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Air Nomad, and the last of his kind, reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas James Liu) determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.
Albert Kim serves as showrunner and executive producer. Jabbar Raisani, Michael Goi and Rideback’s Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore also executive produce as well as direct. Roseanne Liang, who also directs, serves as co-executive producer. Jet Wilkinson also directs.
The eight-episode series will drop on Netflix Feb. 22.
Check out the images below:
