The new producing an Avatar movie and other content, excitement has been growing over what stories viewers might get to see coming out of the newly founded Avatar Studios. While some may want to see the studio's first film revisit the characters from the original series, it would actually be better if the movie left Aang's story behind.
The Avatar franchise began with the premiere of Avatar: The Last Airbender back in 2005. In the show centered on a young airbender named Aang who, over the course of three seasons, learned to master bending all four elements and defeated the evil Fire Lord, restoring balance to the world. The show was immensely popular and has only grown in popularity in the thirteen years since it finished. The sequel series, The Legend of Korra, mainly focused on brand new characters. This means the prospect of seeing further adventures with Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and their friends seems, on the surface, like the perfect story for a new movie to tell.
Yet, it may not actually be the best route for the Avatar creators to take. It all comes down to one simple fact: Aang's story has already been told. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a series that provides a very satisfying and self-contained journey for its characters. Konietzko and DiMartino deciding to have Legend of Korra tell a new story with a new cast is evidence of that. Even if the new movie picked up where the original series left off, or skipped ahead to the Gaang as adults, it would still be mostly a retread. The aftermath of the hundred years war has been explored in the Avatar comics, and the aftermath of Aang's whole life, including the founding of Republic City, has been thoroughly explored in Korra.
One of the strengths of Legend of Korra was its ability to evolve the world of Avatar, and the franchise as a whole, in interesting ways. Avatar: TLA and Korra developed a rich world, which presents ample opportunities for new characters and new stories. It would be a mistake for the showrunners to lean too heavily into nostalgia and fan service so soon in the franchise's history. If the Avatar creators aren't careful, new Avatar content could very easily fall into such a trap as well and invite negative comparisons to the original Last Airbender series. Already, this territory will be revised in Netflix's live action remake.
It's not like remakes and retreads of Avatar: The Last Airbender are all that fans want to see either. A series of films could adapt the recent books detailing the life of Avatar Kyoshi, a fan favorite past Avatar. A movie could focus on the Avatar after Korra, and audiences could see the world evolve even further than before. It could even tell the story of a brand new Avatar who lived hundreds or thousands of years before either series, opening up a whole new era in Avatar canon. Avatar: The Last Airbender will always be there for fans to revisit for years to come, so it's better for content to leave Aang's story behind, and add whole new stories and characters for fans to fall in love with all over again.
