Netflix Drops A VFX-Heavy Trailer For Its Live-Action ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Series Adaptation

Netflix has shared the first trailer for its highly anticipated Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action remake, which will debut on the streamer on February 22.

Live-action adaptations of animated properties have a mixed history with fans and critics, and few are as unpopular as M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender from 2010. With more than 250,000 viewer ratings tracked on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 30% audience score. It did worse with critics, scoring just 5% after 192 reviews.

ATLA fans have reasons to be optimistic and reasons to be fearful this time around. Netflix seems to have cracked the code in adapting fantasy animated franchises with its recent One Piece adaptation, which was a huge hit for the streamer. That said, Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop series got mixed-to-poor reviews and didn’t draw in many viewers, getting canceled after its first season.

Here’s what we know about Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation so far:

• The streamer’s logline for the show reads: “Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action reimagining of the beloved animated series following Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the terrifying Fire Nation.”
• Albert Kim serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer. Episodes are directed by Michael Goi, Jabbar Raisani, Roseanne Liang, and Jet Wilkinson. The series is executive produced by Kim, Raisani, and Goi alongside Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore.
• The creators of the original animated show, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, exited Netflix’s adaptation in August 2022 after working on the show for two years, citing creative differences.
• Vfx supervisors for the Netflix adaptation are Raisani, Marion Spates, Jared Higgins, Christopher D. Martin, and Alex Gitler.

No vfx companies are listed in Netflix’s promotional material for the series, but we have emailed the company to ask which studios were involved in production.