Avatar: The Last Airbender is undergoing a mini-revival. The original Nickelodeon series and the Legend of Korra spin-off have been among Netflix’s most-watched series since their arrival on the streaming service in the past few months.
That added attention has led creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino to put to bed any speculation that a season 4 was ever in the works, though teased that there’s always space for “future stories” in the universe.
No spoilers here but, despite being only three ‘Books’ long, Avatar: The Last Airbender was a self-contained story that certainly had scope to go beyond that, particularly with members of The Fire Nation. While some threads are picked up much later in the timeline in Legend of Korra, Konietzko and DiMartino told Polygon that season 4/Book 4 was never on their minds at the time.
“There was never going to be a season 4, not from us and not from Nickelodeon,” Konietzko said. “Mike and I planned [The Last Airbender] to be a three-season arc as far back as our initial pitch in 2002, and in 2008 we finished the story we set out to tell.” DiMartino added, “We finished the show exactly as we had intended.”
But DiMartino offers hope for those who want new stories in The Last Airbender’s world, especially given the popularity of the franchise's comics and books. “There are many seeds we planted through both series and in the graphic novels that could be expanded on and explored,” he hinted. “The Avatar universe is a big place and has a long history so there’s a lot of potential for new stories.”
A new live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series is in the works, though the creators departed the project earlier this year. The closest we'll get to seeing something new from Aang and the gang is this unaired pilot. For now, the direction of the airbenders lay in Netflix’s hands, but who knows what the future might hold?
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