Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have announced they will no longer be involved in the live-action adaptation due to a lack of support from Netflix. The series could still happen, but both creators said it would not represent the show they wanted to see brought to life.
“Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar has the potential to be good,” DiMartino said in a statement. “But what I can be certain about is that whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make.”
DiMartino and Konietzko are the creators behind Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, considered some of the greatest animated shows of our time. Fans were thrilled when Netflix announced back in 2018 that both creators would be developing a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, bringing the world of Avatar to life in a way that M. Night Shyamalan’s film version failed to do several years prior. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.
In separate statements, DiMartino and Konietzko confirmed they were leaving Netflix’s planned Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation. Both of them claimed that Netflix did not come through in the way they were hoping for, leaving them with creative differences that could not be resolved. Konietzko noted that the studio failed to follow through on its promise to support their vision, and weren’t coming to the table with ideas that were “in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar.”
DiMartino and Konietzko said there’s no indication the series has been cancelled. A Netflix spokesperson told io9: “We have complete respect and admiration for Michael and Bryan and the story that they created in the Avatar animated series. Although they have chosen to depart the live action project, we are confident in the creative team and their adaptation.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Creators Just Left the Live-Action Netflix Adaptation
Leaves from the vine. Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have announced they will no longer be involved in the live-action adaptation due to a lack of support from Netflix. The series could still happen, but both creators said it would not...
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