Since the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, the world of Aang and, later, Korra, was expanded through a multitude of novels and comic books detailing the past and future of the show's universe. Avatar Studios head Michael Dante DiMartino recently talked about where those releases fall in the franchise's canon.
In an interview with Comic Con Meta*Pod, DiMartino explained, "We've been involved in all those main ancillary stories, so in our minds it's mostly canon. There’s probably some stuff if we may go back, like: 'that doesn’t totally line up with this', so there may be some little tweaks here and there, but as of right now we’re proceeding as if all this stuff is part of the proper universe and hopefully building on it."
However, this does not necessarily mean the graphic novels and books have been made irrelevant, even if Avatar Studios' upcoming projects will not draw from them. DiMartino said, "I think the thing we're not doing now– not saying this couldn't happen some day– is, like, we're not adapting the graphic novels into a [movie or] TV show, we're not adapting the YA novels into a movie or TV show. Again, that could happen in the future." Co-creator Bryan Konietzko added, "But we are feeding off of them."
The World of Avatar Grows
Many of the graphic novels released following the end of The Last Airbender helped to flesh out the era that followed between the end of Firelord Ozai's reign and the birth of Avatar Korra. In fact, some of the major questions raised in the series were answered in Dark Horse's comics, including the fate of Prince Zuko's mother, Ursa. That was explored in Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Search (written by Gene Yang with artwork by Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano), which was released in three parts throughout 2013.
Avatar Studios is currently developing a number of animated projects, including three feature films based on Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Details are scarce, though it has been reported at least one of those films will center on Zuko.
No release date has yet been announced for any of the upcoming projects. However, in a previous interview, Konietzko explained audiences should not expect to see major releases any time soon. He explained, "Mike and I, we're building an awesome team very slowly at Avatar Studios— small team, but we're working our way up— and it'll be years before that stuff's out— but so excited to share all that with everybody. We've got a bunch of cool stuff in the works."
Source: Comic Con Meta*Pod, via Avatar News