Readers of the Avatar: The Last Airbender spinoff comics will be at an advantage with the upcoming projects from Avatar Studios, according to writer Tim Hedrick.
In a recent appearance on the podcast Avatar: Braving the Elements, Hedrick, a writer for Avatar Studios, spoke about how the graphic novels will intersect with the company's upcoming projects. "If you haven't read the comics, and are excited for the new stuff, read the comics because it's only going to enrich your experience going forward," he said, adding that "you are going to know more about what's up."
More specifically, Hedrick teased that some characters mentioned in the comics may be debuting in the near future, saying "[y]ou may recognize some characters that you haven't gotten to meet yet." Hedrick was a writer on both the original series and Legend of Korra, and has also been involved more recently in expanding the universe with comics and as a part of Avatar Studios.
Avatar Studios Looks Back at the Comics
Avatar Studios co-head Michael Dante DiMartino also recently spoke about where the various comics and books that have expanded the Avatar universe. "We've been involved in all those main ancillary stories, so in our minds, it's mostly canon," he said. "As of right now we're proceeding as if all this stuff is part of the proper universe and hopefully building on it." He went on to explain that while they hadn't ruled it out for the future, they were not currently planning on directly adapting any of the comics or novels. "But we are feeding off of them," co-head Bryan Konietzko added.
Avatar Studios is a production company launched by Nickelodeon in 2021 with Konietzko and DiMartino as co-chief creative officers. Little is currently known about Avatar Studios' upcoming projects, but three feature-length animated movies are reportedly in development, with the first focusing on Avatar Aang and friends. Previous reports have stated that one of the planned movies will be about Avatar Korra, and that another may focus on one of Aang and Korra's previous incarnations, fan-favorite Avatar Kyoshi.
Separately from Avatar Studios, a live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender is in the works at Netflix. Original creators Konietzko and DiMartino were involved in the project at first but left in 2020 over creative differences. The series does not yet have a release date, but filming was completed in June. The main cast includes Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Dallas Liu as Zuko, and Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai.
Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: Legend of Korra are both available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Avatar: Braving the Elements, via ComicBook.com