A Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender Is the Wrong Way to Go

These are exciting times for fans of the animated Avatar, especially for those who have a Netflix account. The streaming service recently saw the release of The Dragon Prince by former Avatar writers Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond, and more recently, Netflix announced a live-action adaptation of the original series, Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Aside from the fact that the creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko will act as showrunners, not a lot of details have been released. But, as you might expect, that hasn't stopped fans from debating whether or not this is a good idea.

Some of the pessimism stems from the recent controversy surrounding Netflix's upcoming Witcher series, involving a leaked casting call description that many perceived to be evidence of unnecessary changes made to key characters. But most of the negativity surrounding this recent announcement is rooted in the overall failure of the only live-action adaptation currently in existence: the infamous film that some like to pretend never existed, The Last Airbender.

Director M. Night Shyamalan approached the creators and Nickelodeon with his pitch to make a live-action adaptation of the series. The Last Airbender was released in 2010, and adapted the plot and characters of "Book One: Water." Its success would have turned it into the beginning of a trilogy, but it wasn't to be. While the film performed decently enough at the box office, it fell short in other important areas. To say that it failed to impress audiences and critics would be a gross understatement. The majority abhorred the film, which is why the creators of the show immediately distanced themselves from the project, eventually expressing their disappointment in how Shyamalan chose to adapt the world they had created as well as its messages.

Even before the film was released, it managed to disappoint fans of the series thanks to its whitewashing controversy. The world of Avatar: The Last Airbender takes inspiration from numerous cultures, the majority of which are Asian, including Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan, all of which were -- and continue to be -- underrepresented in mainstream films. In retrospect, then, it's little surprise that the film experienced immense backlash when it appeared that no effort had been made to cast actors from the appropriate cultures.

But controversy, while a massive contributor, was not the only reason the film failed. Critics and audiences agreed that the overall quality of the film was just plain poor. Every action sequence was full of obtrusive and obvious CGI, and nearly every scene contained needless exposition through narration, which spoke to the quality of writing and direction behind the film. With all that in mind, it's understandable that fans are now hesitant about allowing their hopes to be raised by the proposed live-action series.

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Of course, the film didn't really have the involvement of DiMartino and Konietzko, but the announced Netflix series will. The two made it clear in a public statement that they intended to do the original series justice. However, as pure as their intentions may be (since the show is their own creation), a live-action adaptation still seems like it's the wrong way to go with the franchise.

Cartoons allow animators to create worlds that would either be too costly or impractical to generate on camera. A lot of the elements and moments that made the world of Avatar so great, like giant lion turtles, firebender-carrying dirigible fleets and landscape reshaping Avatars, will require a lot of money and a lot of care to execute well in a live-action adaptation, if they're able to be afforded at all.

The creators would make fans much happier by expanding the cartoon world they already have instead of putting new faces to cherished characters or really just risking any number of visual issues suffered by the film adaptation. Let's face it, getting something like airbending right -- even with a trained Ba Gua expert and great visual effects artists -- will be extremely difficult; there's the huge risk of making things look either unrealistic or just unnatural. A lot of things in the show relied on suspension of disbelief, which is easier to as of the audience in animation.

There's also the fact that there's no need to adapt the original considering there's still so much for an animated show to explore. Over the course of three seasons, Avatar: The Last Airbender developed widely acclaimed characters and built a fantasy world that was truly unique. Even after it ended, fans were begging for more. There were storylines to be finished and characters to follow as they journeyed through the aftermath of their victories and defeats.

Legend of Korra (created by DiMartino and Konietzko) continued to build that world, but it still left fans with both a want for answers and a desire to see the old gang reunited, only a little bit older and wiser. The series may have been done with Aang, but fans aren't. The story of Team Avatar has continued in a series of graphic novels published by Dark Horse Comics, and those provide a small amount of closure by concluding plotlines such as the fate of Zuko's mother. But there's still a lot of story to be told, especially when the state of the world in Legend of Korra is taken into account.

The aftermath of the sequel series left a lot open in regards to story, all of which another animated series could explore. On a streaming service like Netflix, the creators wouldn't even have to worry about maturity, as the online streaming service is known for being more respectful to creators and less limiting in terms of censorship. The Dragon Prince proves that with its exploration of somewhat heavy themes.

We aren't saying that fans would only be happy if the creators went back to old characters or old plotlines. What we're saying is that there's a lot of potential left for sequel cartoon shows or any show that continues to expand the Avatar universe. Theres no doubt that DiMartino and Konietzko are passionate about this world they've built, which is why they should be building instead of adapting a story we've already seen to live-action. Their efforts to rectify the wrongs committed -- particularly with casting -- by Shyamalan's film are admirable, to be sure, but with regard to the actual show and story, a live-action adaptation would be almost hollow.