Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender show hits more trouble as it loses yet another showrunner
To lose one showrunner is unfortunate. To lose two…
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Albert Kim, the showrunner for Netflix’s live-action fantasy seriesAvatar: The Last Airbender, is moving on – and that means the show will enter its second season with its third showrunner in charge.
That may seem like a lot of showrunners for a show with only one season so far, but it was in development for a long time before it actually aired, with Netflix ordering it in 2018, six years before it finally made it to the screen.
Kim helmed the show since the creators of the original animatedAvatarshow, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, left in 2020; according toThe Hollywood ReporterKim felt it was time for something new after the long process of bringing the new live-actionAvatarto the screen, and will be joiningDisney Plus’Percy Jackson season 2as an executive producer as well as developing new Disney projects.
Who’s helming The Last Airbender now?
Kim took over the show to “lay the foundation for season one”, The Hollywood Reporter says, suggesting that he felt that his role was to ensure that the creators' vision was maintained. Now he’ll hand the reins over to co-executive producer Christine Boylan and executive producer Jabbar Raisani, both of whom were chosen to join the show by Kim.
According to the trade paper, Boylan’s credits include “Leverage, Castle, Once Upon a Time, The Punisherand, more recently,Poker FaceandCitadel”, and she has been nominated for a Writers Guild of America award as part of thePoker Faceteam. Comic books are clearly in her blood: she’s written for bothMarveland DC, among others. And Raisani already executive produced the first season ofAirbenderand directed the third and fourth episodes too.
As we’ve previously reported,the show has attracted mixed reviewswhich had people worried about its future considering it also had such a protracted and troubled development process – but it’s been a big hit for Netflix: “Six days after all eight episodes premiered on Netflix,Avatar: The Last Airbenderwas confirmed to be a Netflix hit, with 21.2 million people tuning in to see what all of the fuss was about. It followed that up with another 19.9 million views a week later”. That means it’s been a bigger success thanOne Piece, the much-hyped fan-favorite adaptation.
Of course, given the history ofNetflix cancelling shows, nothing is safe – but withAvatarconfirmed for two more seasons already, it looks like it’s in solid hands for now.
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