“That’s the case with pretty much everything in the show”: Avatar: The Last Airbender Showrunner Justified Why 2 Characters Have a Slightly Different Arc Than the OG Series
Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently streaming on Netflix and has secured a spot in the list of top 10 shows on the streaming giant. With 8 episodes, the live-action adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon animated series was released on February 22, 2024. Showrunner Albert Kim tried his best to stick to the original version of the animated series but somehow failed to do so.
Albert Kim talks about the reason behind the different arcs of two characters in the live-action adaptation.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Showrunner Clarifies Why Jet And The Mechanist Have Different Arcs Than The OG Series
Avatar: The Last Airbender Showrunner Albert Kim clarified the changes made with respect to the characters of Jet and The Mechanist in the live-action adaptation. As reported by Buzzfeed, Albert Kim mentioned that they did not want to stray from the original narrative of the popular animated series, but brought a few changes with respect to certain characters. He said-
“We always used the original as our guide for everything. It wasn’t like we were creating a whole new story out of whole cloth, we were looking at all the stories of the the first season of the original, regardless of whether they were episodic, or led to a more serialized narrative. And then we kind of laid them out in front of us at the beginning of the season.”Because we knew we were trying to create a narrative thread that took us on a journey from the Southern Water Tribe to the Northern Water Tribe. And so once we had that framework in place, certain elements just started clicking into place.
While talking about the different character arcs of Jet and The Mechanist, Kim said-
We could see something like Jet. Jet is a great character, who has all the right intentions, but has been driven into a bad place by the extremes of war. And then we could see a character like The Mechanist; the same thing. Good character, and a good heart, but doing some bad things because of the war. And you know what? He would be in direct conflict with Jet. So let’s bring them together.. But that’s the case with pretty much everything in the show.”
In the original animated version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, both Mechanist and Jet are shown at different times whereas the live-action adaptation brings both characters together in one arc as they share the theme of the common people oppressed by the Fire Nation.
Showrunner Albert Kim Talks About The Challenges Of Developing The Live-Action Adaptation Of Avatar: The Last Airbender
During the promotion of Avatar: The Last Airbender on IndieWire, showrunner Albert Kim shared about the challenges that came along with the production of the live-action adaptation of the widely watched animated series. He pointed out that animation is way easier in comparison to the practical form of filming a show. While talking about the scenes that involve escape from Pohuai, he said-
There are things you can do in animation that prove extremely difficult to do for practical and financial reasons in live action. A sequence like the escape from Pohuai in the animation, which is an incredibly epic sequence, is a very challenging one to do in live action. We knew we wanted to do it because it was such a memorable thing, but we had to cut some corners here and there.
Gordon Cormier plays Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender
While talking about the cost-effective approach to filming that particular scene, he further added-
I’m sure diehard fans will notice that our version of the Pohuai Stronghold only has two rings as opposed to three — that was a cost-saving thing. Hopefully, it didn’t affect that sequence or the storyline that much. There were little corners we had to cut here and there to make those things work. It’s about being able to do something in live action that may be a little easier when it comes down to just illustrating.
As the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender is currently streaming on Netflix, the production of the second and third seasons has been announced.
