I’ve gotten quite a few comments and emails about the fact that there may be a new show called Avatar:  Legend of Aang.  According to Wikipedia, the original “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is  “also known in some countries as Avatar: The Legend of Aang“.  So, there isn’t a new show that I am aware of.  I also went on nickelodeon.com and can’t find anything there about a new show either.  If there were real ads for a new series, you would think I could find them on Nick.

However, don’t give up hope.  Avatar has made the company and its creators a boatload of money.  If there is a way to bring back Aang, I’m sure they will find a way.

Source

Here is some good news, though.  The Airbender movie is progressing nicely.  M. Night Shyamalan recently (Oct. 6th, 2008) sat down and spoke with movieweb.com and spoke about The Happening, and some of his other movies:

Is there anything you can tell us about The Last Airbender?

M. Night Shyamalan: It is gonna be really cool (Laughs). I’m at the stage where we have pre-vized the last act of the movie. Because my normal approach to filmmaking is almost like making an animated movie, you take out every shot and analyze everything, it kind of lays out really nicely for a big CGI movie. That is such a helpful thing in the process with all the pre-viz. I feel like I’m making the movie right now. I’m editing it and stuff because doing the pre-viz, if you were here, I could show you the last 30 minutes of The Last Airbender in animatic form. It’s an amazing and emotional experience, just to watch that. This is so exciting. It’s such a different kind of movie that I’m used to making, but yet, we were all kind of born out of Star Wars, and somewhere in there is a desire to return to fantasy, on that level.

Is it still on track for 2010 then?

M. Night Shyamalan: Still on track for 2010, baby. July 2nd or 3rd or whatever it is.

 Source

A lot of folks have worried about his making the Airbender movie.  However, look at what Sam Raimi did with the first and second Spider-Man movies.  Granted, the third wasn’t up to snuff.  Shyamalan is an excellent director in many respects.  If he respects the source material he should be fine.  Hopefully he will take a clue from the first Narnia movie and the Harry Potter series.

Popularity of this post: 5%

There has been a lot of angst about Avatar The Last Airbender, and the possibility of the series ending with Book 3.  I found this at IGN.com:

Interview: Avatar’s Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino (September 2007)

IGN: What can we expect for Avatar’s third season? Will this season be the final installment to the Avatar world?

MIKE: This particular, three season arc will end in an exciting way that wraps up the story of Aang and Zuko. However, Bryan and I have other ideas to expand the Avatar universe, so hopefully the world will live on for a long time.

Source (page 2 scroll down)

Here is another interview done with Michael Dante DiMarino last October:

NRAMA: How does it feel to see this arc reaching its end? Do you feel like you’ve managed to accomplish all you set out to do? If so or not, why?

MD:It’s been five and a half years since we developed Avatar, so I feel a mix of sadness, accomplishment, and relief as we reach the end of this story arc. Bryan and I set out to create a show with tons of heart, humor, action and drama; a show that would appeal to kids and adults and boys and girls; and a show that raised the bar for American animation. There’s always things you would have done differently, but overall, I’m I feel like we’ve accomplished what we set out to do.

NRAMA: What can you possibly say/tell us about Avatar after this three-season arc? Will it have anything to do about the fate of the Airbenders?

MD: I’m not going to say anything. We’re still in the very early stages of development and ideas are very fluid at this point, but we’re still excited about the Avatar world and have other stories we want to tell within it.

Newsarama Note: The original article stated that there were three more seasons of of Avatar coming. According to Nickelodeon, that is not the case as of this time. We regret the error.

Source

This seems to suggest that there will be no Book 4.  However, it does appear that other stories will be told in the same universe, including the live action trilogy (this also assumes no book 4), and some animated movies.  

Check out this post, which suggests there will indeed be a Season 4, but again different story line:

Talks are reportedly underway to extend the show beyond just three seasons, which was the original plan by the creators. However, if there is a fourth season, it will likely follow a different storyline other than the Fire Lord and Fire Nation trying to take over the world, as both Nick executives and the co-creators have said season three will be when Aang faces the Fire Lord.”

Source

Popularity of this post: 22%

Here is what we know about  “The Last Airbender” movie (Also known as “Avatar: The Last Airbender” ) :

The release date is currently set by Paramount Pictures for 07-02-10.

The Last Airbender Trilogy will be written, directed, and produced by M. Night Shyamalan. 

The first movie will be based on Book 1. 

There was a dispute over the word “Avatar”.  James Cameron has been working on a movie titled “Avatar” for some time, and so this series will not use that name in the title. 

Filming will begin in Philadelphia in May 2009. They will also be shooting in Greenland.
   

Source

The above link has a full synopsis of the Airbender story. 

Here is another Airbender Rumor:

Will There Be A Book 4? 

No. The creators confirmed that at San Diego Comic Con in July, 2007. Other stories will be told in the Avatar world and there are the upcoming live-action movies, but the animated series ends with Book 3: Fire. Nickelodeon has announced that there will be “(t)hree original 60-minute animated Avatar movies,” in addition to the live-action, feature-length film trilogy by M. Night Shyamalan.

Source – I know there are a lot of people worried about the above paragraph.  I will do some more research.  Hopefully this information is in error. 

Here are links to the bios of the co-creators of Avatar:

 Michael Dante DiMartino and  Bryan Konietzko 

Before watching the movie, you may want to catch up on old episodes.  You can watch a bunch (all of them, I think) of full episodes at Nickelodeon.com.

Watch Full Avatar The Last Airbender Episodes Here for FREE!

Or, just go buy them on Amazon.  That way you can watch it on your big screen TV:

Popularity of this post: 20%