Netflix's Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Advantage Over The Original ATLA

The Expanded Lore of ATLA

Netflix's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender has one huge advantage over Nickelodeon's original ATLA animated series — and it needs to use that upper hand wisely. Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the three-season Avatar: The Last Airbender began airing in 2005. The fantasy-action show's epic story came to a conclusion in 2008. By 2012, it spawned a sequel, The Legend of Korra — though that isn't the only world-expanding narrative to follow ATLA. Avatar Aang's journey continues in several issues of Avatar: The Last Airbender spinoff comics, which chronicle the main characters' stories in the wake of the Fire Nation's defeat.

Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio a Katara, and Ian Ousley as Sokko atop Appa in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

For fans, the tie-in comics offer a lot of new lore and memorable character moments. For starters, works like Team Avatar Tales and The Lost Adventures are collections of events that take place throughout Avatar: The Last Airbender's original three-book timeline. Meanwhile, Katara and the Pirate's Silver sees its titular Waterbender off on her own Book Two adventure. However, the most substantial ATLA additions are the franchise's six graphic novels, which were all released in three-part narratives and include: The Promise, The Search, The Rift, Smoke and Shadow, North and South, and Imbalance. It's these collections that fill out the ATLA universe in new, crucial ways.

One key advantage that Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series has over the original show is the graphic novels' and comic books' repository of lore, backstories, and world-building moments. When DiMartino and Konietzko first created the show, the duo likely had no idea just how popular it would become. The epic tale centers on Aang, a boy who was frozen in an iceberg for 100 years. The last of the Air Nomads, Aang is also the world's Avatar — a being who's capable of mastering all four elements and, most importantly, responsible for maintaining balance. Eventually, Aang and his friends topple the conquest-driven, warmongering Fire Nation. Avatar: The Last Airbender's epic scope lends itself well to spinoffs and tie-in stories.

Incorporating New Elements for a Richer Lore

When they were plotting the original three-season arc, the creators likely didn't consider all the ins-and-outs of the world's lore — or how things would unfold after the events of the story they were focused on telling. Luckily, the graphic novels fill in those gaps and deepen the franchise. Not only can Netflix's ATLA timeline fix complaints about Legend of Korra, but the live-action series can incorporate elements from Korra and the graphic novels much sooner, allowing the franchise to build a clearer, richer, and more nuanced lore from the start.

Netflix's Uncle Iroh and Zuko standing back to back in Avatar the Last Airbender

By borrowing from all 13 Avatar: The Last Airbender books — or, at the very least, keeping those in mind — will only benefit Netflix's ATLA adaptation. From what really happened to Zuko's mom to Avatar Kyoshi's origins to what really happened to Suki when she was apart from Team Avatar, the comics and other ATLA supplemental material have allowed writers to dig deeper into the ATLA lore and flesh out certain characters or plots viewers didn't see. Obviously, these narratives didn't exist in the canon in 2005, but Netflix's live-action series can leverage this extra information to create an even more fleshed-out Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Answering Crucial Questions

By borrowing from all 13 Avatar: The Last Airbender books — or, at the very least, keeping those in mind — will only benefit Netflix's ATLA adaptation. From what really happened to Zuko's mom to Avatar Kyoshi's origins to what really happened to Suki when she was apart from Team Avatar, the comics and other ATLA supplemental material have allowed writers to dig deeper into the ATLA lore and flesh out certain characters or plots viewers didn't see. Obviously, these narratives didn't exist in the canon in 2005, but Netflix's live-action series can leverage this extra information to create an even more fleshed-out Avatar: The Last Airbender.