20 Things You Never Knew About Avatar: The Last Airbender
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There are a mountain of secrets and facts you didn’t know about Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
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The original animated series, the comic continuation, the M. Night Shyamalan film adaptation, and The Legend of Korra. Long ago, the four installments lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when Nickelodeon attacked. Only the Showrunner, master of all four entries, could stop them, but when the world needed them most, they vanished. Three years passed and TheGamer and I discovered twenty crazy pieces of Avatar trivia. And although most of them pertain to the original series, I believe they shine a light on the entire series as a whole.
It’s actually kind of crazy to think about how quickly Avatar fell off the face of the Earth. There’s a Korra comic currently running, apparently, but you’ll be hardpressed to find much information about it online. This is a series that was once so popular, Nickelodeon dedicated an entire two-hour block to its series finale. By the end of Korra’s run, the show wasn’t even airing new episodes on television anymore. Avatar is an interesting franchise as is, but it gets all the stranger once you start digging and discover what was going on behind the scenes.
20 The Series Was Originally A Sci-Fi Instead Of A Fantasy
It’s incredibly hard to imagine The Last Airbender without its Asian influenced fantasy aesthetic. It makes sense for The Legend of Korra to have its steampunk elements since it’s set in the future, but those pseudo-sci-fi design choices simply don’t mesh with the original series. Oddly enough, those design choices were actually meant for the original series.
Avatar: The Last Airbender was envisioned with a science fiction setting in mind, not fantasy. Presumably, the series still would have involved bending and martial arts to an extent, but it certainly wouldn’t have that same mystical feel if it was like Korra right out the gate. What we instead got was a magical journey of personal, and worldly, growth all thanks to a fantastical aesthetic.
19 The Series Finale Was Planned To Be Much Shorter
Sozin’s Comet isn’t just one of Avatar’s best episodes, it’s one of the best series finales ever created. It’s a four-part culmination of everything Aang’s journey has been building up. Aang’s gang has finally invaded the Fire Nation, Zuko is finally confronting his family, and Aang is finally have his showdown with Fire Lord Ozai. It uses every episode to its advantage and anything less would have killed the finale. Which is exactly what could have happened.
Sozin’s Comet was always supposed to be three episodes. With three, every season would have ended with twenty episodes making each book equal as a beginning, middle, and end. Given how much the creators needed to cover, however, three just wasn’t going to cut it. We’re actually lucky. Usually, these stories end with the finale cramped in a designated runtime (i.e. Samurai Jack), but Avatar got one more episode to round things out.
18 No One In Team Avatar Was Supposed To Survive Between The Last Airbender And The Legend of Korra
Isn’t it sad that Aang and Sokka are the only characters who die in between the two shows? It makes sense for Aang to die since the whole concept behind becoming an Avatar involved reincarnation to some extent, but there really was no need for Sokka to die while the rest of the cast gets to survive. The thing is, the rest of the cast was supposed to die. Katara, Zuko, and Toph: none of them were going to make it to Korra but, after Sokka’s death in the show, the writers changed their mind, and there was no way to bring Sokka back.
Oops.
17 Azula Was Originally A Man
Brother vs brother is an incredibly common thread in just about any piece of media. Sasuke and Itachi want each other dead in Naruto, the Star Wars trilogy is about the deterioration of the brotherly relation between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and Metal Gear Solid dedicates several games to the rivalry between twin brothers Snake and Liquid. Avatar goes in an entirely new direction by having the sibling rivalry take place between an older brother and his antagonistic younger sister. It’s a novel concept, but it was originally far more generic.
Azula wasn’t always designed as a woman. It was only later on in development that she went from Zuko’s brother to Zuko’s sister. The decision likely stems from a desire to give the series a wider array of women. After all, does Zuko’s sibling have to be male? It’s far more interesting and unique if he’s antagonized by a sister since that kind of relationship seldom gets the same attention as brother-on-brother.
16 Zuko Was Going To Have His Own Momo
Remember Sokka’s bird buddy Hawky? He only appeared in Book 3, but he was actually slated to be around from the very beginning. Not just that, he was going to be Zuko’s pet and act as a foil to Momo. What’s particularly interesting about Hawky is that he’s not a case of the writers scrapping him early. He actually made it all the way to the final draft of the Pilot before losing his spot as Zuko’s bird. While it would have been nice to see Zuko interact with a feathery companion, the absence of Hawky in the first two books allows Zuko’s loneliness and isolation to shine clearer along with designating Uncle Iroh as Zuko’s emotional outlet. If Zuko’s attention was divided between Hawky and Iroh, we likely wouldn’t have gotten so many amazing moments with the latter. Besides, Momo doesn’t need an evil counterpart.
15 Nickelodeon Did Not Want Korra To Succeed
It’s honestly surprising that The Legend of Korra actually managed to tell its whole story without getting canceled since Nickelodeon did not want this series to do well. It might be because of the female lead or the series’ darker tone, but Nick did everything in its power to make sure Korra would die. Giving it a terrible timeslot? Check. Ensuring it wouldn’t have a consistent schedule? Double check. Taking it off the air altogether and forcing it to conclude online? Triple check. Korra easily could have been as big as The Last Airbender, but Nickelodeon was more interested in pushing Spongebob reruns than letting their content creators work in an accommodating environment. While it was sucky for fans to watch Korra while it was airing, nothing compares to what the team behind the show must have felt watching their baby get disrespected by Nick.
14 There Were Going To Be Three Live Action Movies
The only good thing about M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender is that it did terribly at the box office and he couldn’t film the trilogy he planned on making. Yes, there’s an alternate timeline where we got three of those movies, and the human race presumably went extinct shortly after. One movie was bad enough, but three?
Imagine how much material M. Night would have to cut. Books Two and Three are far denser than Book One and the live action film, which only adapted Book One, stripped the source material bare. Want to know the real worst thing about the trilogy plan, though? It convinced the creators to make the series three seasons long instead of four like they’d been planning. Granted, the show’s story is perfectly told in just three seasons, but it’s crazy to think M. Night was the reason their original plan derailed.
13 Each Book Would Have Been Named After A Season
Long before M. Night got his slimy hands on the series, Avatar: The Last Airbender was going to name its four seasons after the four seasons. It makes quite a lot of sense when you think about it. The original series takes place over the course of one year. Season one would be the start of Winter and season four would go to the tail end of Autumn. It’s an easy and effective way of illustrating the passage of time while also grounding each book in the span of a few months. Of course, the writers didn’t go with that, probably realizing that going one literal season at a time would lock them out of rushing to the finale in case they got canceled early.
12 Katara And Aang Weren’t Supposed To End Up Together
Aang and Katara are the couple when it comes to Avatar. They get three seasons of development, the series ends with their kiss, and their relationship is one rooted in companionship. It makes sense they would end up together, especially considering Katara is the first person Aang meets when gets thawed out of his ice prison. The weird thing is, though, Aang and Katara weren’t planned to end up together.
Katara’s original love interest was actually Zuko. They’re wonderful foils for each other, the former representing water and the latter fire, so it makes sense to some degree, but it requires Katara forging romantic feelings for someone who has antagonized her for the better part of a year. The reason Aang and Katara feel so organic as a couple is because the writers were learning about these characters as they were learning about each other in the series.
Besides, Zuko’s heart clearly belongs to Hawky.
11 Momo Was Supposed To Be Monk Gyatso’s Reincarnation
As Aang’s father figure, Gtayso plays a rather important role despite his lack of appearances. He’s a kind man whose personality clearly lives on in Aang and he’s said to be the greatest Airbender of his time. It’s only fitting that the showrunners would plan something big for him at some point. And they did! He was supposed to be reincarnated into Momo!
Yes, Aang’s smallest furry friend was going to be his surrogate daddy all along. It makes sense when you remember one of Gyatso’s defining features was his off the cuff humor and that Momo is basically a flying meme. The writers didn’t follow through with this plan, but that’s probably for the best. Sometimes dead father figures should stay just that: dead.
10 Toph Was Originally A BIG Man
You know that burly earthbender in Avatar’s intro? He was going to be Toph. That’s right, the young fighter we all grew to love was going to be a big guy more than happy to kick rocks at the Fire Nation. It’s definitely interesting, but the Toph we got was much, much better. Even without knowing how Proto-Toph would have developed as a character, his design is very generic and adds another male to an already man dense show. Female Toph gives us a subversion of the strong man motif and allows us to have another female presence in the show. If it’s any consolation, Proto-Toph’s design ended up being used for the earthbender who teaches Roku how to earthbend.
9 Asami Was Supposed To Betray Korra
Like her father before her, Asami was going to end up an Equalist and then betray Korra, Mako, and Bolin. As the writers were developing the story and characters, however, they found themselves too attached to Asami’s relationship with the rest of the cast and ultimately decided they couldn’t go through with her betraying Team Korra. It’s likely that a scenario where Asami betrayed the group would lead to her involvement diminishing as the story progressed, which would be incredibly awkward considering how important she is in the grand scheme of things and the fact she ends up with the main character. Still, it would have been interesting to see such a flesh it and likable character turn on our heroes with no chance for redemption.
8 The Last Airbender Only Won One Emmy
Despite being one of the best animated and best-acted shows in Nickelodeon’s roster, Avatar: The Last Airbender was completely snubbed when it comes to Emmys. The series won the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award in 2007 and was only nominated for one other award in the same year. The entire cast, Sozin’s Comet, and the art and sound design were conveniently ignored throughout Avatar’s entire run.
To be fair, Avatar lost its other nomination to South Park’s Make Love, Not Warcraft, but the fact that it was never nominated again is a crying shame. Especially when you take into consideration that Spongebob and The Simpsons were nominated over the series even though both shows were far past their prime. #JusticeForAang
7 Zuko Was Supposed To Meet His Mother In The Finale
In theory, it makes sense for Zuko to meet his mother at some point during the series. She’s an integral part of his growth as a character so a meeting between the two would naturally lead to an emotional scene where the audience can truly see just how much Zuko has grown over the course of three seasons. The writers had intended for Zuko and his mother to meet during Sozin’s Comet, but they ultimately had to scrap the plot point because there was just no way it could fit into four episodes they had.
It’s important to remember that Sozin’s Comet was slated for only three episodes, and the fourth was basically granted as a gift to the series. Pushing for a fifth, or trying to add in elements of a fifth, would either end in failure or bloat the finale terribly. While it would have been nice to see Zuko and his mother interact, there was simply no time or space to make it happen.
6 The Series Can’t Be Called Avatar Because Of The Movie Avatar
Avatar was doing just fine and dandy until Avatar came around and made it so Avatar couldn’t be called Avatar. That’s probably a very confusing sentence if you somehow missed James Cameron’s 2009 cultural phenomenon, Avatar. Even though the franchise predated the movie by four years, James Cameron got ownership over the Avatar title. It’s one of the reasons why the live action adaptation is titled The Last Airbender. It should be worth noting that Avatar can still be used as a way to refer to Aang’s portion of the series, but any sequels need to use a different moniker hence why The Legend of Korra is tilted thus and not something like Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
5 The Legend Of Korra Wasn’t The First Sequel
The Legend of Korra isn’t just considered a sequel to Avatar, it’s considered the sequel. It’s the official animated connotation of the series and was advertised as such. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was the only Avatar sequel out there. Well, get ready to know better.
Before Korra was ever a concept, The Last Airbender continued past Sozin’s Comet as a series of comics chronicling a post-Ozai world. In many ways, the comics were a fourth season. We saw continued growth for Aang, Zuko, and the world around them. Korra may be better sequel overall, but it was far from the first.
4 Korra Was Never Meant To Have A Final Love Interest
Korra ending up with Asami was a great, and frankly brave, move that gave both characters newfound depth and shattered the idea that animated shows can only tell stories about heterosexual relationships. The thing is, Korra wasn’t intended to end up with Asami. In fact, she wasn’t going to end up with anyone. Her arc would have her realizing she doesn’t need to be in a relationship and ending the series single, which can be seen as a sort of foil to The Last Airbender’s ending where Aang’s arc concludes with him starting a relationship. Instead, the writers chose to have Korra and Asami become an item at the last minute. Is it still impactful? Definitely. Is it kind of out of nowhere? Unfortunately, but at least it’s been than her ending up with Mako.
3 The Last Airbender Could Have Had A Fourth Season
As perfect a finale as Sozin’s Comet is, there were plans for a fourth season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Book Four would pick up where Book Three left off and showed us a world free from the Fire Nation’s iron first. Zuko would be in charge, Aang and Katara would be together, and all the Kingdoms could rebuild in peace. As interesting as a fourth season would have been, it wouldn’t have meshed with the narrative of the rest of the show. Avatar had been building up to the confrontation with Ozai and the dissolution of the Fire Nation. An epilogue could have worked for an episode, but a whole season with the series’ goal already achieved would have likely led to a rather thematically dissonant twenty episodes.
2 Azula Was Going To Be Far More Violent
Azula’s already a pretty violent character as is. She’s ferociously aggressive, firebends like a monster, and took sadistic pleasure in watching Ozai permanently burn Zuko’s face. It’s also worth mentioning she nearly kills Aang while he’s in his Avatar State during the season two finale. When it comes to raw power and formidability, Azula’s definitely up there. If all this weren’t enough to paint a picture of a violent character, though, the series would actually have her eviscerate one of her attendants with firebending at some point. Obviously, Nickelodeon would never have allowed this and the scene was scrapped. Still, though, it certainly would have painted a much more imposing character if she went around casually killing her “friends.”
1 Uncle Iroh Was Going To Betray Zuko
There is not a single person on this planet who doesn’t like Uncle Iroh. Anyone who tries to tell you that they don’t is clearly lying for attention and should be punished accordingly. I mean, how can you not like him? He’s the kindest character in the series and a shining beacon of what humanity can be. He forgives Zuko and guides Zuko at every step of the way and encouraged him to never waiver. Uncle Iroh is, plain and simple, the human side of the Fire Nation. Without him, all we’re left with is an evil empire.
Which is exactly what would have happened were Uncle Iroh’s role not retooled. Turns out, Iroh was going to betray Zuko at the end of the series. All that compassion, all those lessons, and all the humility he bestows upon his nephew would be thrown out for a shocking twist. It makes sense to some degree that he would side with his nation if Zuko were still going to defect to Team Avatar in the final draft, but we’d also lose too much of an amazing character just for one unexpected moment.
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