Netflix confirms: "Avatar: The Last Airbender" will be extended by two seasons

Luca Fontana

7/3/2024

Translation: machine translated

Netflix announces two new seasons for the live-action adaptation of "Avatar: The Last Airbender". This follows high viewer numbers. However, a release date is not yet known.

"It's not the news we were hoping for," the dejected Firelord Ozai actor Daniel Dae Kim explains to his fellow actors on the Zoom call, "but unfortunately Netflix is unable to renew the show for another season."

Pause. Disappointed faces.

"However," Dae Kim starts again, "the reason they're not renewing the show for one season is because they're renewing it for two seasons!"

Cheers erupt. "You're cruel!" says Aang actor Gordon Cormier between tears and laughter. "You had me in the first half!" agrees Sokka actor Ian Ousley. "I'm still a little disappointed," adds Uncle Iroh actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee in his Star Wars-inspired room with a broad, warm smile, "they took their time."

Two new seasons - thanks to viewers, not critics

Netflix's live-action adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender" has been running for just two weeks - and it's already official: Netflix is ordering not only the second, but also the third season for the fantasy series. This comes as a surprise, but is no coincidence. After all, the Nickelodeon animated series - the original - also consists of a total of three seasons: "Book: Water", "Book: Earth" and "Book: Fire". The official announcement image is correspondingly thematic

Netflix makes a commitment - and defies the rather mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has only received 59 per cent approval from critics. The viewer ratings are much more positive, with 75 per cent approval. I also wrote in my review of the series: "The Netflix adaptation of the Nickelodeon original is admittedly not perfect. There is a lot to criticise. But, and this is the real surprise, there is much more to praise!"

The decision to extend the programme by two seasons is likely to have been based on viewer numbers anyway. In its announcement, Netflix spoke of 41.1 million views in just eleven days. In 76 countries worldwide, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" was even ranked first in the Netflix series charts. And in Switzerland, the fantasy series is still the third most-watched series across all streaming services - as confirmed by the international film and series database Justwatch:

Possible release date: not before the end of 2025

It is not yet known when the new season will be released on Netflix. Based on experience, however, it is likely to take one and a half to two years between the announcement and release of such an elaborate production. A release before the end of 2025 therefore seems unlikely.

The reason Netflix has announced two seasons could be that they want to shoot both seasons at the same time. This would not only save costs, but also time: "only" post-production and minor reshoots would lie between the release of seasons 2 and 3. We saw something similar with the production of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The three films could only be released in cinemas on an annual basis because the main filming for all three films had taken place simultaneously beforehand.

Fans of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" can therefore look forward to a rosy future in which the wait between seasons 2 and 3 could be dramatically shortened.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more