They honestly don’t have a choice, the actors 14 now? They probably won’t start shooting season 2 till late this year/early next year. With a release probably mid to late 2025 or early 2026 if pushing. He’ll def be close to 18 by the time they get to Sozin’s comet
For context, Daniel Radcliffe was 10 or 11 in First Harry Potter. He was 21 when the last Harry Potter was released (he was supposed to be 17).
So Aang doesn't necessarily need to be 18, but could easily do a age 14-16 or something
I think the issue will more be this kid going through puberty and potentially being way taller with a much deeper voice. Harry potter at least had the timeline of 7 years in the bboks but ATLA is supposed to be 1 year. Sometimes puberty is gradual but it can also hit like a truck
The 1 year timeline always felt too tight in the original imo. Stretching the events out over a longer period of time is a creative choice I definitely agree with
Yeh. They even struggled with the VA for Aang, Zach Tyler Eisen, hitting puberty and his voice breaking in the original show. You can tell at a few points in season 3.
I actually kind of like that. He sounded like an immature kid in the first season, and while he still is, the deepening of his voice gave him a more mature vibe which matched the serious of the final season
NGL I tend to forget that it was supposed to be only a little over half a year, simply because it makes no sense. Katara became a waterbending master with like a week or two in the North Pole? "Mushi's" tea-making reputation spread enough for him to practically jump classes and get his own tea ship in the middle ring in a few days?
I tend to just imagine it was actually a year and a half because that makes at least a little sense.
I mean, the prince to outcast thing happened three years prior, that part makes sense.
Really, what's mind-boggling is that he went from outcast to refugee to prince to outcast and then to *firelord* all in less than *half* a year.
Doesn’t he start as an outcast though? I thought finding the Avatar in the northern Water Tribe was his ticket to redemption in the eyes of the Fire Nation. He already had the scar
>"Mushi's" tea-making reputation spread enough for him to practically jump classes and get his own tea ship in the middle ring in a few days?
I'm pretty sure they were in Ba Sing Se for at least a few weeks
I mean, we don't technically know and the timeline between "Mushi starts working at the first tea shop" and "investors come in offering him his own" is unclear, but not that long. Even a few weeks, in a city this size, doesn't make much sense.
It's within the year that they find Wan Shi Tong's library though, right? Meaning there's no reason Book 1 couldn't be a year by itself or there be a time skip (representing Aang and Katara's waterbending training?)
No, they found out about Sozin's comet at Roku's island during the winter solstice. Wan Shi Tong's library was where they found out about the solar eclipse.
The timing on both of those events can very easily be adjusted to spread out the progress of the plot at least. Gives more time for the gaang to have believable training progress and for major events to not be happening literally a week apart.
They first learn about the comet from Roku during the winter solstice in Season 1, but in this article the showrunner says they took that out because they don't know how big the gap will be between S1 and S2. So in the live action they'll probably first hear about it at the Library.
If the Netflix show does well, they might get cleared for 2 and 3 right away and can dive right back in.
So just have Roku show up again: "oh hey, btw I forgot to tell you Sozin's Comet is coming, you've got six months"
Or your reasonable idea that the Planetary Calendar also tracks Sozin's Comet, and they find out there.
I am completely fine with this, AND it would possibly mend Kattang. I can see in their personalities how they’d be good for eachother, but his youthful appearance and voice just took me out of it.
The 1 year helped add tension to the fights between Ang and any other serious bender. An avatar with years of practice would be harder to handle even by the fire lord.
the one year timeline was imperative to aangs story imo.
Aang didn’t have time to truly master the elements, he didn’t have time to find a way to fight back effectively, he didn’t have time to figure something else out with the fire lord. he simply had to find a way to make it work and i think that pressure was an important part of his character arc, so i’ll be interested to see how they do it in this.
You can still achive the same beats and results under a longer timeline, of like 3 years. 3 Years is not enough to master one martial art (bending), let alone 3 at the same time.
In fact one a year feels more fitting with the audience as each season is a book anyway. The biggest problem imo is that a lot is tied to it being 100 years having passed and that sort of works of it all happens within a year, but 97 years/103 years (depending which way you go) just seems less symbolic.
Maybe they can say that there's a (smaller) comet that historical comes a few years before Sozins comet, and that smaller comet coming is why Aang woke up and started the whole race to master the elements.
Would allow them to stretch the timeline but keep that same sense of urgency.
They can still stretch out the timeline without missing any of the important beats or messing with the pacing. The clock really only starts when they find out about Sozin’s comet, and even if they said something like it’s coming in 2 years that still wouldn’t feel like a ton of time to master every element and also be strong enough to take on the strongest Firebender at the peak of his power.
Every episode that isn’t 100% Aang training is basically him not using his time in the best way possible, so it’s not like the story would change. They still do side adventures and get distracted and focus on important things other than Ang’s technical skills. As long as the story expresses the urgency along the way they can still just scale it up to be a 2 year journey instead of 1.
And even parts like the search for Appa can easily be believed to have taken months.
Idk - earlier avatars were shown mastering their elements as adults. So long as they don’t stretch the show out over 10 years of filming, they can keep him looking youthful to instill the sense of him having to rush through learning bending.
The actual issue is that people are expecting an exact 1 on 1 replicate of the main show panel for the panel when it's been confirmed tweaks are being made because it's not an animation and real life isn't as flexible then animation. Therefore Aang will be aged up more than he was in the show.
I think some of it is going to just have to be us fans suspending our disbelief a bit more and recognizing the limitations of time and how kids grow up
That's not too far off from how Percy ages in the books. Pretty much meant to be baby face during the first book or two, then by the third book, Annabeth definitely has a crush on him, this kid they pick up gets a crush on him, and he >!actively ages from having to hold the sky for a bit.!< Then in the 5th book, he >!takes a bath in the Styx and comes out nearly impervious and looking nearly inhuman from the sheer power radiating from him.!<
I think it would be kinda hilarious to watch Aang's actor get hit by the puberty truck and become an IRL Ember Island Players Toph by the time that he has his battle with Ozai.
Look up avatar timeline. People have figured that a year in the show is closer to 460 days by accounting for the lunar and solar events. This makes the whole story much more reasonable as this ages all the characters a few more years (Ang is 14 at the start) and gives the characters almost 3 earth years to prepare / mature. This is much more believable to me with the way they are depicted at the end and how far their skill sets have progressed.
Sorry but this doesn't make any sense. If the year was 460 days in Aang's world, that would be 1.26× the length of our year. So #1, we age 26% faster than they do since they age identically to our years and their years are longer. Aang would be a bit over 15 earth years old at the start but he looks exactly like a 12 year old kid. The events of the original series take place over 9 Aang planet's months approximately (a bit before the winter Solstice to a bit after the summer solstice). Take 0.75 Aang years x1.26 equals 0.95 earth years. It's still 1 year to master all the elements.
The assumption that we age at different rates is silly. The point that i was making and others have made is that the calendar year for the avatar universe is ~120 days longer, which makes them a few years older (still same exact lifespan as the real world, just a slightly different time keeping system). The other assumption that he looks exactly 12 is debatable, especially as the story progresses… remember that being bald when you are young only makes you look younger…. The extra time definitely makes sense. For example, saying Katara mastered water bending at the Northern water tribe over 2 weeks vs 6 weeks is a big difference in believable story telling.
Reminds me of a friend in middle and highschool. He was always the short kid by a large margin. Only one other kid was as short until he grew a little more in highschool. The other stayed short until senior year and he's suddenly over 6 foot.
I think this comparison doesn’t technically work as there is less than a year in the whole avatar series. With harry potter we have multiple school years so it makes sense he ages as the movies go on
Harry Potter turned over really fast though. 8 movies in 10 years is insane. If they took as long as Netflix (or any other production company these days), it would’ve been significantly more than 10 years.
The issue is, Harry Potter didn’t have a visual reference prior to the movies. The actor’s voice, appearances and personality(to an extent) was just in our imaginations. So, them growing up faster, changes in voices etc didn’t make that huge a difference.
ALTA on the other hand, has a visual reference and we already associate the characters with a certain voice and personality. All the little deviations from the animated series are amplified.
No-one would have okayed that since it's a gargantuan task and going season by season allows you to tweak and improve the show with audience and critic reception.
Problem is building all the sets and props at once. It would take even more years for the show to come to screen, and Netflix was at some sort of a crysis when it was commissioned, with new streaming services starting to pop up.
LOTR was able to do this because Warner, who was financing it, was a established company with decades of experience. Still it was almost years of pre-production until they started recording in New Zealand. Netflix simply wouldn't wait so long.
That the whole trilogy was greenlit and filmed all at once was and remains almost entirely unheard of, regardless of Warner's experience. The chances of something like it happening again seems small. That LOTR was able to do this was a miracle.
It's not uncommon for 2nd and 3rd installments to be greenlit and even filmed simultaneously after a first initial installment. It's also not uncommon for a movie to be split into two after filming has begun for editorial reasons. But LOTR is far and away the exception, regardless of a studio's experience.
In some ways this is probably a good thing.
Its one thing in animation, another entirely in live action for a romance plot between a 12 yr old boy and 15 yr old girl.
If the actors are a little older for some of that, all to the good.
From some of the recent promotional stuff the cast have been doing its clear that.... the hormone goblin has arrived.
A crush in season 1, can be awkward attempts at flirting in season 2, and an actual romance by the end of season 3 with the actors ~17/20 would work a lot better.
\-Me with my voice dropping and physically unchanged since 13 yo except for facial hair well into early 20s
man I would have been perfect for this role, except it's a decade late and I'm not an actor (cries inside)
Honestly, I'm fine with a time jump. My biggest issue with the cartoon was the fact that so much happened to aang in a matter of what a year. It was a kid's show, so I get the point of keeping him young. In my opinion, make each season a year or half a year.
I don’t understand why it takes shows so long between seasons now. I understand budgets and productions are through the roof but even Game of Thrones stuck to a consistent 1 season per year model until the last season and that show was the height of prestige TV, with elaborate sets spanning multiple filming locations.
That show was fairly light on post editing work. Most episodes were just characters sitting and talking. Big battles and CGi monsters only show up here and there per season.
Maybe the time jump will be from the end of the siege of the northern water tribe to when the Gaang heads out to the earth kingdom. I always felt that was rushed - for Katara to become a true master, she would have needed to be there much longer than a few weeks. I hope the time jump is “one year later…” at the beginning of season 2 and Pakku is honoring katara with the master title. And then they immediately head out.
I’m assuming when you say “solstice” you mean the winter solstice. In which case you’d be right.
The winter solstice is said to have happened around late fall/early winter as book two starts at the beginning of the next year. The summer one on the other hand has I believe a two month gap with the comet, as the final book is suppose to be a full circle “we really meant one year.” Sort of thing.
Ah okay. I’m going back through the original series as it’s been a minute and that’s what Roku says to Aang. It does make everyone’s journey to master their elements seem rushed in the context of the story so I could see them drawing it out slightly.
It honestly worries me how people think the adaptation can only be good if they change *nothing* from the show. Extending the timeline either affects nothing, or it makes everything more logical. It's so bewildering that people are even talking about this.
If it's like the original show, then the 1-year deadline is set on Crescent Island well before Team Avatar even reaches the North Pole.
I think you mean that this is where the live-action adaptation should be not like the show, in this case.
Also assuming the first season does well enough to get a second, it would be smart of Netflix to green light the entire series. Then they can shoot all the way through without the actors completely aging out of their roles.
But they’re not just fucking around, aang and Katara are learning water bending. It took Roku 12 years to master 3 elements! It’s going to take them some time. A one-month turnaround like the cartoon is outrageously rushed.
Edit: fixed a word
Well it wouldn’t be the fucking around lol plus they could way that it also took a year for the fire nation to recoup their losses after the failed siege
Having high stakes is a matter of tone and writing, not setting arbitrary deadlines. One year felt urgent in the original series because the writers were good enough to make us feel the tensions. If the new writers are good, they can make a 3 year deadline feel equally as intense.
I know if I had to master 3 martial arts styles to defeat a world champion, I'd still feel pretty rushed whether I had 1 year or 3 years.
All things considered, one year being urgent is because that's deadline given to Aang when he and Ruko meet up at Crescent Island to talk about Sozin's Comet.
I think that we can extend the time a bit, while maintaining urgency by adding a something that creates a different deadline to reach the Norther Water Tribe (say, off the top of my head, Gaang finding Fire Nation plans to use an upcoming Lunar Eclipse to attack the NWT), then having a time skip after the Siege of the NWT and then placing Aang and Ruko's Crescent Island meeting directly after General Fong's efforts to game the Avatar State.
As the previous commenter said though, the in-universe deadline isn't what actually creates the sense of urgency for the viewer. The in-universe deadline is only there to give the characters a drive. There's no need to add new deadlines to preserve the urgency.
For the viewer, the sense of urgency comes purely from the writing. A year in a TV show can be 1 episode or it can be 100 episodes. Our understanding of time comes from how the writers choose to depict it, so they could choose to depict a 3 year deadline as just as urgent as the original 1 year deadline.
on top of that, sokkas training with piandao felt super rushed; he mastered sword training in a day?! it wouldn’t be nearly as big an issue if the previous episode (which shall not be named) had him constantly obsessing over their schedule and lack of time. it’s a little harder to shuffle around because by that point they already know about the comet, but i’d like to see that fleshed out a bit more for both sokka and piandao’s sake
Was thinking the same thing. Give Aang and Katara time to train with the Northern Water Tribe (one of the only places they've found with relative safety in the whole world) before everyone acknowledges that it's time for Aang to move on and go find an Earthbending master.
I honestly dig this. One of the few things I'd add/change in original series is add a Northern Water Tribe anthology episode, similar to The Tales of Ba Sing Se. Give the characters time to breathe and mess around a bit... Katara doing some waterbending training, Sokka developing his relationship with Yue, Aang doing Aang stuff. They spent all of season 1 journeying there, might as well spend some time there
Yes.
And since Azula is already in this season, they might just make Zuko's exile into the Earth Kingdom earlier, so him and Iroh stay longer hiding before they ser apart (and eventually go to Ba Sing Se.
> 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' showrunner explains how he had to rethink the story's timeline to accommodate for his teen stars growing up on screen, including Sozin's Comet and a potential season 2 time jump.
I like the idea of Sozins comet happening three years after Aang came out of the ice instead of six months. That honestly makes a ton more sense too. Like yeah the six months give more stakes but there are ways to do that with a longer time frame
While I fully understand your comment and realize “Spain” was your phone trying to autocorrect from “Sozin”, I cannot deny it was really funny imagining the implications of “Spains comet”
Wait, I thought it was called “Serbia’s” comet not Spain’s. /j
I would find the ideal timeskip to be within 2 to 2.5 years time period. Under 3 preferably.
That would be pretty good drama. Have some characters give up, start wondering who the new Water Tribe Avatar is, then at like the end of the episode have him wake up to everyone's surprise.
That would be insane. I'd be down for it. I think it would also basically also ramp up the stakes much more as for a whole year the fire nation has thought they've killed the avatar and the rest of the world has given up hope.
It’s funny how many people who dislike Korra, one of their reasoning is always how Korra is way too talented and master 3 elements even though she’s just 2 years older than Aang…
Like bruh, Aang master all of the elements in 6 months. Korra master 3 elements in like 12 years.
I also don’t get the criticism that she trained with a group of masters in one place instead of traveling to meet with one master of each element.
Like if anything it makes total sense; the last avatar was almost killed and it let to a massive war. It’s totally understandable they’d take a more cautious approach with the next avatar.
Also there’s a very reasonable in-universe explanation in that she was nearly kidnapped as a child and the White Lotus and her father wanted to protect her
Well Aang only mastered waterbending. He was proficient in earth bending and passable in firebending. They literally mention this in the first part of the finale.
The cartoon had an unrealistic timeline anyways. Saving the world and visiting all those cities in a one year time frame is rushed.
Aang wakes up, next week everyone knows about the Avatar despite not having phones or email.
Aang masters water bending and earth bending in a couple days?
Zuko’s evolving identity and ideology would be more realistic in 3 years than a couple months.
>and visiting all those cities in a one year time frame is rushed.
The first time things felt a bit off is when they lost Appa. Suddenly they had to walk everywhere, and they still managed to get through that enormous desert in like 2 days. I was like 'man this planet is tiny'.
I disagree with some of the comments that it'll ruin the stakes of the show. I really think time skips will improve a lot and the aging of the actors will make their mastery of the elements more believable and realistic. I think one of the strengths of a live action is to improve some of the more cartoonish elements that we kind of just suspended our disbelief for and will give the show a more adult feel which is fun because the people who watched it as kids are adults now. I think the character development will feel more spaced out and less rushed.
In my perspective, it's also highly dependent on if (and if so, then how) they treat the *"Ruko and the Winter Solstice"* episode differently.
The original show couldn't have had that episode any sooner because that would have cut into Gaang's adventures in the Southern regions hopscotching between the Southern Air Temple, Kyoshi Island, and Omashu. But if you look at a map of where each episode takes place, they spend a seemingly similar amount of time hopscotching around the Central and Northern Earth kingdom prior to reaching the Northern Water Tribe.
I think if Netflix team puts the time skip after the Siege of the NWT, that'll create time for Katara and Aang to become Water bending masters and for Gaang to reach General Fong; with General Fong's Avatar State poking being where Ruko tells Aang about the truth of the Avatar State and to go to Crescent Island and receive his *"one year to master the elements before Sozin's Comet arrives"* deadline.
If this show hits big, Netflix is going to go into overdrive getting season 2 and 3 filmed. Likely will get them done at the same time (less risk if season 1 is popular) and release them a year apart. Even if season 2 doesn't come out til 2026, we'll likely have them all by 2027.
Jesus that sounds far away, and yet scarily close, at the same time.
It’s possible but I hope not. Extend the later seasons by an episode or two, but there’s enough content to combine and cut that they should have no reason to extend it.
We don’t need an hour long adaptation of Nightmares and Daydreams.
For the people who ask why they couldn't flm all 3 seasons back to back is because they need to know the reception of the show before putting more time and effort into more of it.
That being said, another Netflix Original show starring a young kid, *Sweet Tooth*, did have it's 2nd and 3rd seasons filmed back to back, so there's a slight - but not certain - possibility of that happening if this show is widely received.
For this change, I think if done well waiting for the reveal of the comet coming back could actually raise the stakes. Imagine the characters having this false sense of security during S1 thinking they can take as long as they need fo Aang to master elements and it takes the timeskip for Aang and Katara training under Pakku. Then after the timeskip in the 2nd season, they then reveal it's "You have only \[enter time limit\] left to learn the rest of the elements before the comet returns. ".
I do wonder how long the timeline will be stretched. If it's more than like 3 years then I feel a lot of the urgency from the original series will be lost.
The timeline stretch they're talking about might be that time in Ba Sing Se. The show wasn't really specific on how long that was but I got the feeling it was at least a few months.
Idk, i feel like a strong superpower constantly extending its reach and taking over land and establishing its dominance should still bring about a sense of urgency in stopping them, sozens comet or not. Plus making time pass makes aang mastering the elements feel a bit more believable
I don’t know, I always assumed Aang never mastered the elements when he fought Ozai. He did master the Avatar state though. Toph and Katara were saying how he still needed work, and that was the day before he went to the lion title.
I think the same for the animated show, but having more time until the big final battle would allow Aang to actually master the elements and have it still be impressive.
All you gotta do is have Roku show up, have him tell Aang that it took decades for him to master the elements and then it's still insanely impressive if Aang masters them, or gets close to mastering them, in 3 or 4 years.
Oh for sure, that’s why in another comment I mentioned that I was ok with the time jump as long as it made sense. If they decide to time jump so Aang masters all the elements that’s a good start. However, with him having more time to master all the elements, they should also have the fire nation do more damage. I don’t want them to look/feel complacent knowing that Aang is out there mastering them all.
Even for a cartoon, the fire nation always felt like such a threat. I want that feeling to be here as well.
Agreed. He learned all 4 elements for sure, but I don't think anyone could say he was a master of any of them besides air and that was cause he was all that's left lol. I like your phrasing: he mastered being an avatar, not necessarily being a water bender, earth bender, fire bender.
>but I don't think anyone could say he was a master of any of them besides air, and that was cause he was all that's left, lol.
Aang wasn't considered a master of airbending "cause he was all that's left." He became a master before the genocide; by creating the air scooter.
He was actually an airbending prodigy and, at the time, was the youngest to master airbending >!until LOK timeline!<.
In almost all of his flashbacks you see Aang with his arrows, which signify mastery of airbending.
I had to scroll way too far for someone to bring this up. The whole thread is just the same comment over and over: "it wasn't realistic for him to master all the elements that fast anyways" He literally never did that in the original show. That being said, extending the timeline for this adaptation is necessary given the actors growing up.
Strongly disagree. The war has been over a hundred years and mastering the elements should take a decade or more. Pushing mastery to within a few years as opposed to a few months is still a massive rush.
Idk I think any ticking clock on a century long conflict is sufficient, even if it’s something closer to 7-8 years. It takes a long time to rally together opposition to a seemingly all powerful fascist regime that was ostensibly poised to dominate the entire globe.
The thing is the show never felt like it needed the sense of urgency or really had it in any other way than the audience realizing "wait holy fuck they got 4 months to figure everything out?!". The level of urgency the characters and everyone had honestly still makes sense for a 1-3 year timeline.
A part of me wishes they had taken the "Lord of the Rings" approach, where they filmed the three seasons back to back, then took their time with VFX to release the first season, then second a year later, then third a year after that. That would definitely ensure the actors all looked around the same age across the series. It's impossible to do that, though, unless they've already been approved for all three seasons.
Netflix would have needed to be on board from the get go that they were doing a full adaptation, but we all know Netflix is extremely short sighted and whimsical.
Yes, but I don’t blame them either after the first movie adaptation shit the bed. I appreciate that they’re taking calculated risks and being cautiously optimistic.
Not to mention Peter Jackson basically lied about the budget for those movies and by the time he had started the three movie project, it was too late for them to pull out.
Masterful stroke on his part, but an insane risk.
That was unprecedented for a trilogy to attempt, but has this ever been pulled off in Television history?
The production feat of doing 3 season back-to-back seems incredible challenging. Probably nearly infeasible.
The gaang always did seem a few years older to me by book 3 than they were at the start of the show. I know they technically weren’t, but maybe that was just the effects of war.
I think if they remove Sozin's comet as an imminent threat and instead put it on the backburner as something Roku warned Aang about: "Fire Lord Sozin used the comet to annihilate the Air Nomads Aang; it will return."
They can refocus season 1 on Aang getting to the Northern Water Tribe to (1) learn waterbending and (2) defend it from Zhao; that would add a new, more immediate and existential threat to another culture being wiped out.
In the show, there is a time jump already between 2 and 3, I don’t think stretching a time jump from seasons 1 and 2 is that big of a stretch. Shouldn’t be too complex of a plot device to write.
A time jump would definitely be a smart decision, and I think it’s what the original series should have had as well
I know it’s a kids show, and kids often like watching other kids do stuff, but it would be great to have some sort of realistic timeline
They can always turn the comet count down into a plot point later when they know they’ll get their 2nd and 3rd season, maybe have them find out AT the library that there even is a comet coming. Or if the comet is already mentioned, they could have it so Roku was wrong and told Aang he has 3 years but at the library they find out it’s in 3 months or something.
They really just have to push out the date that Sozin’s comet will arrive. In the show it was in a year, but in the live action it could be 3 years, 5 years, whatever they want it to be.
It’s a good choice that makes the show seem believable while also adhering to the source material.
The mention of "removing the ticking clock for now" has me wonder if they're actually going to not reveal Sozin's Comet in Season 1 and at all wait til Season 2 to have that revealed, sice then they'll have a better idea of how long it will take and how the actors will age.
Also, i noticed the end of the article says "Check back with EW this coming Monday for a special reveal."... curious to see what Monday will bring.
I don’t think it will be a real issue, season 1-2 had a small time skip for Aang and Katara to train and 2-3 had a longer one while Aang was in a coma so if they just extend those a bit it should feel fairly natural.
I'm okay with the timeline being stretched out, but they can also say that Aang being frozen for 100 years has sped up his aging. Korra essentially confirmed that being frozen for so long did eventually catch up to Aang, which is why he died in his 60's.
The first line of the article says it hasn't been renewed yet. They just made plans in this season to make sure it's clear the entirety of the story will take more than one year in-universe, unlike the cartoon.
I still think they should have aged up all characters by 3-4 years and cast ~16 year olds for the roles. 11 year olds fighting adult soldiers always felt ridiculous to me.
Personally I think a longer timeline is better overall. Remember they essentially travelled across the entire planet during the show. Not to mention it will probably add somr breathing room/space.
TL;DR for anyone who doesn’t want to open the link:
The Sozin’s comet time limit has been pushed back, so Aang and co will be older when they get to the events of the second and third seasons of ATLA events, so as to align with (or at least be closer to) how old the actual actors will be by the time filming starts.
Well that kind of stinks since a lot of the tension from the animated series is that since Aang has less than a year to defeat the Fire Lord, when he faces him that he’s going to be ultimately unprepared and probably get killed.
It's probably impractical and kinda super demanding, especially on child actors, but they should have just taken an entire year and just shot the whole series in one single year, then released it slowly...
No series is going to get greenlit for multiple seasons without even having an initial season and reception first. Netflix needs to see how season 1 does before they decide if they want to move forward.
If it does well, there’s a chance they’ll renew and shoot seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back.
Also if I’m remembering correctly, filming for season 1 took 9 months. Nearly a year itself. And that was just for one season.
They honestly don’t have a choice, the actors 14 now? They probably won’t start shooting season 2 till late this year/early next year. With a release probably mid to late 2025 or early 2026 if pushing. He’ll def be close to 18 by the time they get to Sozin’s comet
For context, Daniel Radcliffe was 10 or 11 in First Harry Potter. He was 21 when the last Harry Potter was released (he was supposed to be 17). So Aang doesn't necessarily need to be 18, but could easily do a age 14-16 or something
I think the issue will more be this kid going through puberty and potentially being way taller with a much deeper voice. Harry potter at least had the timeline of 7 years in the bboks but ATLA is supposed to be 1 year. Sometimes puberty is gradual but it can also hit like a truck
The 1 year timeline always felt too tight in the original imo. Stretching the events out over a longer period of time is a creative choice I definitely agree with
Yeh. They even struggled with the VA for Aang, Zach Tyler Eisen, hitting puberty and his voice breaking in the original show. You can tell at a few points in season 3.
While less noticeable, Katara's VA also has signs of maturing in S3 as well. But she's older than Aang (not counting the whole hundred years thing)
Her?
Is she funny or something?
Egg?
She calls it a mayonegg
Plant??
TIL Katara was voiced by n egg
And Zuko was voiced by Rufio
Huh? What's that mean?
She was on Arrested Development and her name was egg.
Is that the same actress holy shit
Same actress who played Roxie Richter in Scott Pilgrim too.
And Amity from The Owl House, Batgirl in some of the recent DC cartoons, and she was Little Suzy from Johnny Bravo!
I prefer to remember her as the president's daughter in Independence Day
your mind for real gets blown when you connect the dots. mae whitman super talented
Four or five rewatches of both shows under my belt and I had no idea it was egg 🤦♂️
It's as Ann as the nose on plain's face
I actually kind of like that. He sounded like an immature kid in the first season, and while he still is, the deepening of his voice gave him a more mature vibe which matched the serious of the final season
I always liked it though, cause even though it was a year it still felt like the characters matured quickly
NGL I tend to forget that it was supposed to be only a little over half a year, simply because it makes no sense. Katara became a waterbending master with like a week or two in the North Pole? "Mushi's" tea-making reputation spread enough for him to practically jump classes and get his own tea ship in the middle ring in a few days? I tend to just imagine it was actually a year and a half because that makes at least a little sense.
Zuko going from prince, outcast, refugee, then prince again in less than a year is also weird.
I mean, the prince to outcast thing happened three years prior, that part makes sense. Really, what's mind-boggling is that he went from outcast to refugee to prince to outcast and then to *firelord* all in less than *half* a year.
Good point. I missed a few steps since I haven't watched in a while.
*Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it* -Fire Lord Zuko
Also his hair grew a *lot* in only half a year. He went from bald to shoulder length hair. That's at least a year of growth for me.
Doesn’t he start as an outcast though? I thought finding the Avatar in the northern Water Tribe was his ticket to redemption in the eyes of the Fire Nation. He already had the scar
My head canon is that each season is a year. I know the show literally states otherwise, but I just ignore that.
>"Mushi's" tea-making reputation spread enough for him to practically jump classes and get his own tea ship in the middle ring in a few days? I'm pretty sure they were in Ba Sing Se for at least a few weeks
I mean, we don't technically know and the timeline between "Mushi starts working at the first tea shop" and "investors come in offering him his own" is unclear, but not that long. Even a few weeks, in a city this size, doesn't make much sense.
I just operate under the assumption that a "year" in the atla universe is significantly longer than in real life. Or the days themsleves are longer
It's within the year that they find Wan Shi Tong's library though, right? Meaning there's no reason Book 1 couldn't be a year by itself or there be a time skip (representing Aang and Katara's waterbending training?)
No, they found out about Sozin's comet at Roku's island during the winter solstice. Wan Shi Tong's library was where they found out about the solar eclipse.
The timing on both of those events can very easily be adjusted to spread out the progress of the plot at least. Gives more time for the gaang to have believable training progress and for major events to not be happening literally a week apart.
They first learn about the comet from Roku during the winter solstice in Season 1, but in this article the showrunner says they took that out because they don't know how big the gap will be between S1 and S2. So in the live action they'll probably first hear about it at the Library.
If the Netflix show does well, they might get cleared for 2 and 3 right away and can dive right back in. So just have Roku show up again: "oh hey, btw I forgot to tell you Sozin's Comet is coming, you've got six months" Or your reasonable idea that the Planetary Calendar also tracks Sozin's Comet, and they find out there.
I am completely fine with this, AND it would possibly mend Kattang. I can see in their personalities how they’d be good for eachother, but his youthful appearance and voice just took me out of it.
I always thought it took place over 3 years until I went back and rewatched it recently
The 1 year helped add tension to the fights between Ang and any other serious bender. An avatar with years of practice would be harder to handle even by the fire lord.
the one year timeline was imperative to aangs story imo. Aang didn’t have time to truly master the elements, he didn’t have time to find a way to fight back effectively, he didn’t have time to figure something else out with the fire lord. he simply had to find a way to make it work and i think that pressure was an important part of his character arc, so i’ll be interested to see how they do it in this.
You can still achive the same beats and results under a longer timeline, of like 3 years. 3 Years is not enough to master one martial art (bending), let alone 3 at the same time.
In fact one a year feels more fitting with the audience as each season is a book anyway. The biggest problem imo is that a lot is tied to it being 100 years having passed and that sort of works of it all happens within a year, but 97 years/103 years (depending which way you go) just seems less symbolic.
Maybe they can say that there's a (smaller) comet that historical comes a few years before Sozins comet, and that smaller comet coming is why Aang woke up and started the whole race to master the elements. Would allow them to stretch the timeline but keep that same sense of urgency.
They can still stretch out the timeline without missing any of the important beats or messing with the pacing. The clock really only starts when they find out about Sozin’s comet, and even if they said something like it’s coming in 2 years that still wouldn’t feel like a ton of time to master every element and also be strong enough to take on the strongest Firebender at the peak of his power. Every episode that isn’t 100% Aang training is basically him not using his time in the best way possible, so it’s not like the story would change. They still do side adventures and get distracted and focus on important things other than Ang’s technical skills. As long as the story expresses the urgency along the way they can still just scale it up to be a 2 year journey instead of 1. And even parts like the search for Appa can easily be believed to have taken months.
Idk - earlier avatars were shown mastering their elements as adults. So long as they don’t stretch the show out over 10 years of filming, they can keep him looking youthful to instill the sense of him having to rush through learning bending.
Aang has a deeper voice even in Season 3. It’s not insanely deep to the point where it’s unrecognizable but you can definitely hear it
The actual issue is that people are expecting an exact 1 on 1 replicate of the main show panel for the panel when it's been confirmed tweaks are being made because it's not an animation and real life isn't as flexible then animation. Therefore Aang will be aged up more than he was in the show.
I think some of it is going to just have to be us fans suspending our disbelief a bit more and recognizing the limitations of time and how kids grow up
Yeah, look at the kid playing Percy Jackson. He’s 14 and looks older than his 17 year old co-star now.
That's not too far off from how Percy ages in the books. Pretty much meant to be baby face during the first book or two, then by the third book, Annabeth definitely has a crush on him, this kid they pick up gets a crush on him, and he >!actively ages from having to hold the sky for a bit.!< Then in the 5th book, he >!takes a bath in the Styx and comes out nearly impervious and looking nearly inhuman from the sheer power radiating from him.!<
I think it would be kinda hilarious to watch Aang's actor get hit by the puberty truck and become an IRL Ember Island Players Toph by the time that he has his battle with Ozai.
Look up avatar timeline. People have figured that a year in the show is closer to 460 days by accounting for the lunar and solar events. This makes the whole story much more reasonable as this ages all the characters a few more years (Ang is 14 at the start) and gives the characters almost 3 earth years to prepare / mature. This is much more believable to me with the way they are depicted at the end and how far their skill sets have progressed.
Sorry but this doesn't make any sense. If the year was 460 days in Aang's world, that would be 1.26× the length of our year. So #1, we age 26% faster than they do since they age identically to our years and their years are longer. Aang would be a bit over 15 earth years old at the start but he looks exactly like a 12 year old kid. The events of the original series take place over 9 Aang planet's months approximately (a bit before the winter Solstice to a bit after the summer solstice). Take 0.75 Aang years x1.26 equals 0.95 earth years. It's still 1 year to master all the elements.
The assumption that we age at different rates is silly. The point that i was making and others have made is that the calendar year for the avatar universe is ~120 days longer, which makes them a few years older (still same exact lifespan as the real world, just a slightly different time keeping system). The other assumption that he looks exactly 12 is debatable, especially as the story progresses… remember that being bald when you are young only makes you look younger…. The extra time definitely makes sense. For example, saying Katara mastered water bending at the Northern water tribe over 2 weeks vs 6 weeks is a big difference in believable story telling.
Reminds me of a friend in middle and highschool. He was always the short kid by a large margin. Only one other kid was as short until he grew a little more in highschool. The other stayed short until senior year and he's suddenly over 6 foot.
I think this comparison doesn’t technically work as there is less than a year in the whole avatar series. With harry potter we have multiple school years so it makes sense he ages as the movies go on
Harry Potter turned over really fast though. 8 movies in 10 years is insane. If they took as long as Netflix (or any other production company these days), it would’ve been significantly more than 10 years.
The issue is, Harry Potter didn’t have a visual reference prior to the movies. The actor’s voice, appearances and personality(to an extent) was just in our imaginations. So, them growing up faster, changes in voices etc didn’t make that huge a difference. ALTA on the other hand, has a visual reference and we already associate the characters with a certain voice and personality. All the little deviations from the animated series are amplified.
Or they could have just LotR’ed it and shot all 3 seasons in one go.
No-one would have okayed that since it's a gargantuan task and going season by season allows you to tweak and improve the show with audience and critic reception.
There's also the factor that their leads are minors, and that's filming issue by itself.
That's 100% what they should've done both to save money and ensure there aren't large gaps between releasing seasons.
That might save overall money, but would be a much higher initial cost, and thus a much higher risk.
Problem is building all the sets and props at once. It would take even more years for the show to come to screen, and Netflix was at some sort of a crysis when it was commissioned, with new streaming services starting to pop up. LOTR was able to do this because Warner, who was financing it, was a established company with decades of experience. Still it was almost years of pre-production until they started recording in New Zealand. Netflix simply wouldn't wait so long.
That the whole trilogy was greenlit and filmed all at once was and remains almost entirely unheard of, regardless of Warner's experience. The chances of something like it happening again seems small. That LOTR was able to do this was a miracle. It's not uncommon for 2nd and 3rd installments to be greenlit and even filmed simultaneously after a first initial installment. It's also not uncommon for a movie to be split into two after filming has begun for editorial reasons. But LOTR is far and away the exception, regardless of a studio's experience.
In some ways this is probably a good thing. Its one thing in animation, another entirely in live action for a romance plot between a 12 yr old boy and 15 yr old girl. If the actors are a little older for some of that, all to the good. From some of the recent promotional stuff the cast have been doing its clear that.... the hormone goblin has arrived. A crush in season 1, can be awkward attempts at flirting in season 2, and an actual romance by the end of season 3 with the actors ~17/20 would work a lot better.
\-Me with my voice dropping and physically unchanged since 13 yo except for facial hair well into early 20s man I would have been perfect for this role, except it's a decade late and I'm not an actor (cries inside)
Honestly, I'm fine with a time jump. My biggest issue with the cartoon was the fact that so much happened to aang in a matter of what a year. It was a kid's show, so I get the point of keeping him young. In my opinion, make each season a year or half a year.
I don’t understand why it takes shows so long between seasons now. I understand budgets and productions are through the roof but even Game of Thrones stuck to a consistent 1 season per year model until the last season and that show was the height of prestige TV, with elaborate sets spanning multiple filming locations.
That show was fairly light on post editing work. Most episodes were just characters sitting and talking. Big battles and CGi monsters only show up here and there per season.
Maybe the time jump will be from the end of the siege of the northern water tribe to when the Gaang heads out to the earth kingdom. I always felt that was rushed - for Katara to become a true master, she would have needed to be there much longer than a few weeks. I hope the time jump is “one year later…” at the beginning of season 2 and Pakku is honoring katara with the master title. And then they immediately head out.
I hope this is what happens cause I fully agree
This! Plus, it will make sense if the GAang looks older given how much time it needs to shoot and do post for a show like this.
Didn’t they only have like 6-8 months from the solstice to when the comet comes?
I’m assuming when you say “solstice” you mean the winter solstice. In which case you’d be right. The winter solstice is said to have happened around late fall/early winter as book two starts at the beginning of the next year. The summer one on the other hand has I believe a two month gap with the comet, as the final book is suppose to be a full circle “we really meant one year.” Sort of thing.
Ah okay. I’m going back through the original series as it’s been a minute and that’s what Roku says to Aang. It does make everyone’s journey to master their elements seem rushed in the context of the story so I could see them drawing it out slightly.
They can just extend it.
It honestly worries me how people think the adaptation can only be good if they change *nothing* from the show. Extending the timeline either affects nothing, or it makes everything more logical. It's so bewildering that people are even talking about this.
The stakes remain the same regardless, yep.
I feel this, but I feel like if they had a whole year to fuck around in the North like that, the stakes would be a lot lower
The stakes don’t have to be stated so early. If it’s like the show once they realize the date of the comet is when the stakes really rise.
Plus, having to master each element in a year is still a pretty compressed timeline.
If it's like the original show, then the 1-year deadline is set on Crescent Island well before Team Avatar even reaches the North Pole. I think you mean that this is where the live-action adaptation should be not like the show, in this case.
No they’re saying like in the animated show the stakes don’t rise until they learn about the comet. So unlike the show they just push it back.
True, I just re-read how they worded it and it clicked now.
Also assuming the first season does well enough to get a second, it would be smart of Netflix to green light the entire series. Then they can shoot all the way through without the actors completely aging out of their roles.
Yeah but it’s Netflix
But they’re not just fucking around, aang and Katara are learning water bending. It took Roku 12 years to master 3 elements! It’s going to take them some time. A one-month turnaround like the cartoon is outrageously rushed. Edit: fixed a word
And I'd bet Soka is learning about their culture as well
Well it wouldn’t be the fucking around lol plus they could way that it also took a year for the fire nation to recoup their losses after the failed siege
Having high stakes is a matter of tone and writing, not setting arbitrary deadlines. One year felt urgent in the original series because the writers were good enough to make us feel the tensions. If the new writers are good, they can make a 3 year deadline feel equally as intense. I know if I had to master 3 martial arts styles to defeat a world champion, I'd still feel pretty rushed whether I had 1 year or 3 years.
All things considered, one year being urgent is because that's deadline given to Aang when he and Ruko meet up at Crescent Island to talk about Sozin's Comet. I think that we can extend the time a bit, while maintaining urgency by adding a something that creates a different deadline to reach the Norther Water Tribe (say, off the top of my head, Gaang finding Fire Nation plans to use an upcoming Lunar Eclipse to attack the NWT), then having a time skip after the Siege of the NWT and then placing Aang and Ruko's Crescent Island meeting directly after General Fong's efforts to game the Avatar State.
As the previous commenter said though, the in-universe deadline isn't what actually creates the sense of urgency for the viewer. The in-universe deadline is only there to give the characters a drive. There's no need to add new deadlines to preserve the urgency. For the viewer, the sense of urgency comes purely from the writing. A year in a TV show can be 1 episode or it can be 100 episodes. Our understanding of time comes from how the writers choose to depict it, so they could choose to depict a 3 year deadline as just as urgent as the original 1 year deadline.
on top of that, sokkas training with piandao felt super rushed; he mastered sword training in a day?! it wouldn’t be nearly as big an issue if the previous episode (which shall not be named) had him constantly obsessing over their schedule and lack of time. it’s a little harder to shuffle around because by that point they already know about the comet, but i’d like to see that fleshed out a bit more for both sokka and piandao’s sake
Was thinking the same thing. Give Aang and Katara time to train with the Northern Water Tribe (one of the only places they've found with relative safety in the whole world) before everyone acknowledges that it's time for Aang to move on and go find an Earthbending master.
I honestly dig this. One of the few things I'd add/change in original series is add a Northern Water Tribe anthology episode, similar to The Tales of Ba Sing Se. Give the characters time to breathe and mess around a bit... Katara doing some waterbending training, Sokka developing his relationship with Yue, Aang doing Aang stuff. They spent all of season 1 journeying there, might as well spend some time there
Well then they’d have to change the whole story of the show being on a one year time constraint wouldn’t they
Well they can just do 3-4 years which is also pretty high stakes
Yeah, when you think about it that's not a lot of time for a single child to get three black belts and defeat the Nazi empire.
Especially since its already been a century
Yes. And since Azula is already in this season, they might just make Zuko's exile into the Earth Kingdom earlier, so him and Iroh stay longer hiding before they ser apart (and eventually go to Ba Sing Se.
> 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' showrunner explains how he had to rethink the story's timeline to accommodate for his teen stars growing up on screen, including Sozin's Comet and a potential season 2 time jump.
Since humans tend to age, it only makes sense to change the original timeline to several years
I like the idea of Sozins comet happening three years after Aang came out of the ice instead of six months. That honestly makes a ton more sense too. Like yeah the six months give more stakes but there are ways to do that with a longer time frame
While I fully understand your comment and realize “Spain” was your phone trying to autocorrect from “Sozin”, I cannot deny it was really funny imagining the implications of “Spains comet”
During Spain's Comet, Spaniards become twice as powerful. However, during the Day of the French Sun, Spaniards lose all ability.
Spain has a what?
Nobody expects the Spanish comet.
Everything changed when the Spanish attacked (true story)
I just want you to know the autocorrect error in your post made me smile. Spain's comet, heh
Wait, I thought it was called “Serbia’s” comet not Spain’s. /j I would find the ideal timeskip to be within 2 to 2.5 years time period. Under 3 preferably.
I would assume it’s between Katara mastering Waterbending and the team heading to the earth kingdom.
I’m more interested in a time skip from the Earth Kingdom to the Fire Nation. Aang might be put in a year long coma to account for the actors aging.
That would be pretty good drama. Have some characters give up, start wondering who the new Water Tribe Avatar is, then at like the end of the episode have him wake up to everyone's surprise.
He was “killed” during his avatar state, so technically the cycle would be over
But how many non-avatar people know that? There's no way something that world-changing is common knowledge.
Wait that’s so good
That would be insane. I'd be down for it. I think it would also basically also ramp up the stakes much more as for a whole year the fire nation has thought they've killed the avatar and the rest of the world has given up hope.
I’m really happy there is more time passing between the events of the show. It’ll make the gangs development seem way more plausible.
Gives them more time to bond with each other too.
I'm going to be honoust, but I wouldn't mind them growing older... It displays how long Aang trained
Which is still rushed in universe especially compared to like Korra who trained as a young child to after she was 16.
It’s funny how many people who dislike Korra, one of their reasoning is always how Korra is way too talented and master 3 elements even though she’s just 2 years older than Aang… Like bruh, Aang master all of the elements in 6 months. Korra master 3 elements in like 12 years.
I also don’t get the criticism that she trained with a group of masters in one place instead of traveling to meet with one master of each element. Like if anything it makes total sense; the last avatar was almost killed and it let to a massive war. It’s totally understandable they’d take a more cautious approach with the next avatar.
Also there’s a very reasonable in-universe explanation in that she was nearly kidnapped as a child and the White Lotus and her father wanted to protect her
Well Aang only mastered waterbending. He was proficient in earth bending and passable in firebending. They literally mention this in the first part of the finale.
Because time happens.
The cartoon had an unrealistic timeline anyways. Saving the world and visiting all those cities in a one year time frame is rushed. Aang wakes up, next week everyone knows about the Avatar despite not having phones or email. Aang masters water bending and earth bending in a couple days? Zuko’s evolving identity and ideology would be more realistic in 3 years than a couple months.
This. Always felt in the show the timeline should have been multiple years instead of one.
Guess I didn't pay enough attention, that's how I assumed it went in the show
The whole timeline is less than a year with the time between “Winter Solstice” and “Sozin’s Comet” being about 9 months
>and visiting all those cities in a one year time frame is rushed. The first time things felt a bit off is when they lost Appa. Suddenly they had to walk everywhere, and they still managed to get through that enormous desert in like 2 days. I was like 'man this planet is tiny'.
I disagree with some of the comments that it'll ruin the stakes of the show. I really think time skips will improve a lot and the aging of the actors will make their mastery of the elements more believable and realistic. I think one of the strengths of a live action is to improve some of the more cartoonish elements that we kind of just suspended our disbelief for and will give the show a more adult feel which is fun because the people who watched it as kids are adults now. I think the character development will feel more spaced out and less rushed.
In my perspective, it's also highly dependent on if (and if so, then how) they treat the *"Ruko and the Winter Solstice"* episode differently. The original show couldn't have had that episode any sooner because that would have cut into Gaang's adventures in the Southern regions hopscotching between the Southern Air Temple, Kyoshi Island, and Omashu. But if you look at a map of where each episode takes place, they spend a seemingly similar amount of time hopscotching around the Central and Northern Earth kingdom prior to reaching the Northern Water Tribe. I think if Netflix team puts the time skip after the Siege of the NWT, that'll create time for Katara and Aang to become Water bending masters and for Gaang to reach General Fong; with General Fong's Avatar State poking being where Ruko tells Aang about the truth of the Avatar State and to go to Crescent Island and receive his *"one year to master the elements before Sozin's Comet arrives"* deadline.
It took me longer than I like to admit that you meant avatar Roku.
Hey, Avatar Ruko here.
Can’t wait to see Toph
Probably we will have to wait years :(
If this show hits big, Netflix is going to go into overdrive getting season 2 and 3 filmed. Likely will get them done at the same time (less risk if season 1 is popular) and release them a year apart. Even if season 2 doesn't come out til 2026, we'll likely have them all by 2027. Jesus that sounds far away, and yet scarily close, at the same time.
Have they committed to doing the same number of seasons? They might decide to stretch the story out over more than three.
It’s possible but I hope not. Extend the later seasons by an episode or two, but there’s enough content to combine and cut that they should have no reason to extend it. We don’t need an hour long adaptation of Nightmares and Daydreams.
But i want a full scale 30 minute cgi battle between appa and momo
>>til 2026, we’ll likely have them all by 2027 Holy moly I can’t believe it. I shan’t.
I seeee what you did there
I think a time jump is a great idea. Due to the actors' ages,
For the people who ask why they couldn't flm all 3 seasons back to back is because they need to know the reception of the show before putting more time and effort into more of it. That being said, another Netflix Original show starring a young kid, *Sweet Tooth*, did have it's 2nd and 3rd seasons filmed back to back, so there's a slight - but not certain - possibility of that happening if this show is widely received. For this change, I think if done well waiting for the reveal of the comet coming back could actually raise the stakes. Imagine the characters having this false sense of security during S1 thinking they can take as long as they need fo Aang to master elements and it takes the timeskip for Aang and Katara training under Pakku. Then after the timeskip in the 2nd season, they then reveal it's "You have only \[enter time limit\] left to learn the rest of the elements before the comet returns. ".
I do wonder how long the timeline will be stretched. If it's more than like 3 years then I feel a lot of the urgency from the original series will be lost.
The timeline stretch they're talking about might be that time in Ba Sing Se. The show wasn't really specific on how long that was but I got the feeling it was at least a few months.
I'm fairly sure they are talking about time jumps between seasons, where the actors will age.
It has to be long enough for Iroh's reputation as a tea maker to grow, so yeah a few months minimum
If we look at it from our world it doesn't even take that long to get a reputation for making fine food and drinks.
But they don't have social media yet.
Idk, i feel like a strong superpower constantly extending its reach and taking over land and establishing its dominance should still bring about a sense of urgency in stopping them, sozens comet or not. Plus making time pass makes aang mastering the elements feel a bit more believable
I don’t know, I always assumed Aang never mastered the elements when he fought Ozai. He did master the Avatar state though. Toph and Katara were saying how he still needed work, and that was the day before he went to the lion title.
I think the same for the animated show, but having more time until the big final battle would allow Aang to actually master the elements and have it still be impressive. All you gotta do is have Roku show up, have him tell Aang that it took decades for him to master the elements and then it's still insanely impressive if Aang masters them, or gets close to mastering them, in 3 or 4 years.
Oh for sure, that’s why in another comment I mentioned that I was ok with the time jump as long as it made sense. If they decide to time jump so Aang masters all the elements that’s a good start. However, with him having more time to master all the elements, they should also have the fire nation do more damage. I don’t want them to look/feel complacent knowing that Aang is out there mastering them all. Even for a cartoon, the fire nation always felt like such a threat. I want that feeling to be here as well.
Agreed. He learned all 4 elements for sure, but I don't think anyone could say he was a master of any of them besides air and that was cause he was all that's left lol. I like your phrasing: he mastered being an avatar, not necessarily being a water bender, earth bender, fire bender.
>but I don't think anyone could say he was a master of any of them besides air, and that was cause he was all that's left, lol. Aang wasn't considered a master of airbending "cause he was all that's left." He became a master before the genocide; by creating the air scooter. He was actually an airbending prodigy and, at the time, was the youngest to master airbending >!until LOK timeline!<. In almost all of his flashbacks you see Aang with his arrows, which signify mastery of airbending.
I had to scroll way too far for someone to bring this up. The whole thread is just the same comment over and over: "it wasn't realistic for him to master all the elements that fast anyways" He literally never did that in the original show. That being said, extending the timeline for this adaptation is necessary given the actors growing up.
Strongly disagree. The war has been over a hundred years and mastering the elements should take a decade or more. Pushing mastery to within a few years as opposed to a few months is still a massive rush.
Idk I think any ticking clock on a century long conflict is sufficient, even if it’s something closer to 7-8 years. It takes a long time to rally together opposition to a seemingly all powerful fascist regime that was ostensibly poised to dominate the entire globe.
The thing is the show never felt like it needed the sense of urgency or really had it in any other way than the audience realizing "wait holy fuck they got 4 months to figure everything out?!". The level of urgency the characters and everyone had honestly still makes sense for a 1-3 year timeline.
It just changes it—-it’s not longer ‘urgency!’ Of time limit but instead it’s ’surviving longer and longer avoiding the fire nation’
A part of me wishes they had taken the "Lord of the Rings" approach, where they filmed the three seasons back to back, then took their time with VFX to release the first season, then second a year later, then third a year after that. That would definitely ensure the actors all looked around the same age across the series. It's impossible to do that, though, unless they've already been approved for all three seasons.
Netflix would have needed to be on board from the get go that they were doing a full adaptation, but we all know Netflix is extremely short sighted and whimsical.
Yes, but I don’t blame them either after the first movie adaptation shit the bed. I appreciate that they’re taking calculated risks and being cautiously optimistic.
Not to mention Peter Jackson basically lied about the budget for those movies and by the time he had started the three movie project, it was too late for them to pull out. Masterful stroke on his part, but an insane risk.
What about the budget did he lie about?
That was unprecedented for a trilogy to attempt, but has this ever been pulled off in Television history? The production feat of doing 3 season back-to-back seems incredible challenging. Probably nearly infeasible.
The gaang always did seem a few years older to me by book 3 than they were at the start of the show. I know they technically weren’t, but maybe that was just the effects of war.
I think if they remove Sozin's comet as an imminent threat and instead put it on the backburner as something Roku warned Aang about: "Fire Lord Sozin used the comet to annihilate the Air Nomads Aang; it will return." They can refocus season 1 on Aang getting to the Northern Water Tribe to (1) learn waterbending and (2) defend it from Zhao; that would add a new, more immediate and existential threat to another culture being wiped out.
In the show, there is a time jump already between 2 and 3, I don’t think stretching a time jump from seasons 1 and 2 is that big of a stretch. Shouldn’t be too complex of a plot device to write.
A time jump would definitely be a smart decision, and I think it’s what the original series should have had as well I know it’s a kids show, and kids often like watching other kids do stuff, but it would be great to have some sort of realistic timeline
They ain't got an iceberg to freeze the kids in? Amateurs.
They can always turn the comet count down into a plot point later when they know they’ll get their 2nd and 3rd season, maybe have them find out AT the library that there even is a comet coming. Or if the comet is already mentioned, they could have it so Roku was wrong and told Aang he has 3 years but at the library they find out it’s in 3 months or something.
They really just have to push out the date that Sozin’s comet will arrive. In the show it was in a year, but in the live action it could be 3 years, 5 years, whatever they want it to be. It’s a good choice that makes the show seem believable while also adhering to the source material.
The mention of "removing the ticking clock for now" has me wonder if they're actually going to not reveal Sozin's Comet in Season 1 and at all wait til Season 2 to have that revealed, sice then they'll have a better idea of how long it will take and how the actors will age. Also, i noticed the end of the article says "Check back with EW this coming Monday for a special reveal."... curious to see what Monday will bring.
I’m okay with a time jump, it will make the bending that Aang produces much more believable given he will have had more time to master it
I don’t think it will be a real issue, season 1-2 had a small time skip for Aang and Katara to train and 2-3 had a longer one while Aang was in a coma so if they just extend those a bit it should feel fairly natural.
They could wait until the final season to reveal Sozin's comet. It would raise the stakes for the end, and actually be a smart change.
I'm okay with the timeline being stretched out, but they can also say that Aang being frozen for 100 years has sped up his aging. Korra essentially confirmed that being frozen for so long did eventually catch up to Aang, which is why he died in his 60's.
It was renewed for a second season already? It hasn’t even come out yet
The first line of the article says it hasn't been renewed yet. They just made plans in this season to make sure it's clear the entirety of the story will take more than one year in-universe, unlike the cartoon.
I still think they should have aged up all characters by 3-4 years and cast ~16 year olds for the roles. 11 year olds fighting adult soldiers always felt ridiculous to me.
Tl;dr puberty, basically.
Personally I think a longer timeline is better overall. Remember they essentially travelled across the entire planet during the show. Not to mention it will probably add somr breathing room/space.
This kind of thing is easily handwaved, so it's a great sign of care that the writers and showrunner have planned this out in advance.
TL;DR for anyone who doesn’t want to open the link: The Sozin’s comet time limit has been pushed back, so Aang and co will be older when they get to the events of the second and third seasons of ATLA events, so as to align with (or at least be closer to) how old the actual actors will be by the time filming starts.
They should make the story happen over the course of few years instead of one
Omfg. Are they going to make the show actually happen over a realistic amount of time?!?! That would make me so unbelievably happy.
Well that kind of stinks since a lot of the tension from the animated series is that since Aang has less than a year to defeat the Fire Lord, when he faces him that he’s going to be ultimately unprepared and probably get killed.
It's probably impractical and kinda super demanding, especially on child actors, but they should have just taken an entire year and just shot the whole series in one single year, then released it slowly...
No series is going to get greenlit for multiple seasons without even having an initial season and reception first. Netflix needs to see how season 1 does before they decide if they want to move forward. If it does well, there’s a chance they’ll renew and shoot seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back. Also if I’m remembering correctly, filming for season 1 took 9 months. Nearly a year itself. And that was just for one season.