A new listing revealed a promising update for the release of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2.
Netflix just delivered Season 1 of its live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender to mixed reactions from critics and fans. The eight-episode season arrived with a fresh cast to bring the popular animated series to life.
Netflix's Season 1 adapted "Book One: Water" with the remaining two seasons expected to adapt "Book Two: Earth" and "Book Three: Fire," thereby delivering a complete live-action take on the Nickelodeon animated series.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 May Already Be in Development
A new report from What's On Netflix addressed the future of the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender and excitingly revealed evidence to suggest Season 2 may already have been in development for some time.
It's important to first note Netflix has not yet renewed Avatar for a second season, although that news could come in a matter of weeks if the series is successful.
The report pointed out a LinkedIn profile listing from a "Writers' Room Assistant" who had completed work on Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 from January 2023 to January 2024.
The user has since updated their profile to refer to an "Untitled Fantasy Series" with Netflix, removing the direct reference to Avatar.
The listing indicates Netflix already opened a writers' room for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 and has begun work on developing the story and scripts for the sophomore outing ahead of its expected renewal.
When Will Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Release?
To figure out when Avatar: The Last Airbender could return for Season 2, the best option is to turn to the timeline of Season 1's development, which was a rather long and winding road that took place across almost six years and a worldwide pandemic.
The live-action adaptation was announced by Netflix in 2018 with plans to start production in 2019 - although that would not happen until November 2021, likely due to both creative departures and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Avatar: The Last Airbender lost the animated series' original creators Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko - who were set to serve as showrunners and executive producers - in June 2020 due to creative differences. Albert Kim was later announced as the new head writer and showrunner in August 2021.
This complicated timeline of Season 1 makes it hard to figure out how long Season 2 will take to write. A stronger indication may come from comparing it to Netflix's other recent animated adaptation, One Piece, which was ordered in January 2020 and had all its episodes written five months later by May 2020.
Looking at the production side, Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 began filming on November 16, 2021 and wrapped on June 17, 2022, making for roughly seven months in front of cameras. The show would later premiere on February 22, 2024, making for a massive 27 months from the start of filming to release.
Assuming the writing process was to last around five to six months, filming was to begin shortly after, and the post-production was to take a similar time as Season 1, then the earliest Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 could be released on Netflix would likely be mid-to-late 2026.
But granted, with certain VFX assets created, a creative team fully in place, and writing work possibly underway, the wait for Season 2 could prove shorter and allow for a premiere closer to early 2026.
Next year is already set to offer plenty of new content from Avatar Studios, with the animated sequel movie starring an older Aang set for October 2025 and an all-new Earth Avatar series taking place after The Legend of Korra also lined up for 2025.
Netflix Could Film Avatar Seasons 2 & 3 in a Unique Way
According to a report from Knight Edge Media in November 2022, Netflix may have been considering renewing Avatar: The Last Airbender for Seasons 2 and 3 with a plan to film both back-to-back if the freshman outing proved successful and turned over enough new subscribers for the service.
Actor Gordon Cormier who plays Aang is currently 14 years old, meaning he was close to the age of the 12-year-old character during the 2022 production. As Aang remains 12 years old across all three books of the original Avatar, Netflix may look to shoot the next two seasons rather soon to avoid Cormier aging up too much.
Looking back to Netflix's successful adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which also starred a young cast, the streamer filmed and released a season per year for all three seasons to ensure the children remained youthful.
Of course, the same may not be quite possible for The Last Airbender due to its heavier reliance on VFX. But Netflix could still look to fast-track development and perhaps even consider filming the remaining seasons back-to-back to prevent the younger actors from over-aging - provided the series is renewed that is.
If this were to happen, it would likely delay the release of Season 2 to some degree but would allow Netflix to ensure a shorter gap between the final two seasons while keeping the actors a similar age across the entire run.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.
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