Avatar: The Last Airbender – 7 Mistakes The Netflix Remake MUST Avoid

There are two things to keep in mind about the original Avatar. Firstly, it was made primarily for a children’s demographic. And secondly, it was a product of the cable television era, meaning a lot of episodes felt more like side-quests. While enjoyable, not all of them contributed directly to the main narrative. Book One, out of all three seasons, is most symptomatic of this format.

This was all well and good in the mid-2000s, but with the transition of television to streaming services, modern audiences have been conditioned to more linear, focused narratives. In our current age of serialized storytelling, the abundance of seemingly “filler” episodes in Avatar could be a deal-breaker for first-time viewers.

The best approach for the writing team would be to streamline the show’s initial story to fit the modern layout. It’s been done to great effectiveness with properties like Disney’s The Mandalorian, which strikes the perfect balance between episodic and serialized pacing. Netflix’s recent hit series The Witcher is another good example, and given that show’s source material (a lengthy video game), that merger of formats was an excellent creative choice.

There are obviously certain episodes from the original which must be preserved: “The Southern Air Temple”, “The Storm”, “The Blue Spirit”, and others that feed into the larger story. On the other hand, do we really need to delve into Jet’s backstory again?