Aang and his friends are on a quest to stop the Fire Nation in the first season of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. But there’s plenty more to the story than just the first season, which was released on Netflix on Thursday. In fact, if the animated original series is anything to go by, there should be at least two more seasons in Aang’s journey.
And Netflix has confirmed that suspicion. The streamer has made its plans for Avatar’s future official, so here’s everything we know about the live-action Netflix Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2.
Is Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 happening?
On March 6, just a few weeks after the show’s debut, Netflix announced that Avatar: The Last Airbender is moving forward with not just one, but two more seasons. This means that the show should be able to complete the entire run of the original series, which also ran three seasons.
Albert Kim told Entertainment Weekly that the live-action version altered the story slightly in order to allow some space between seasons 1 and 2, since the young actors will age quickly and noticeably in between filming. With planning like that, it’s clear that Kim at least has already thinking about the rest of the show from day one.
When would Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 release?
With Netflix’s renewal coming so quickly, it’s possible that the cast and crew hop right back to work and get the show’s next season done quickly. While there’s still only a slim possibility that the show could come back right away, with a new season debuting in 2025, it’s much more likely that we’d be waiting until 2026 to see Aang and the gang’s story continue. The good news is that it won’t take nearly as long as it did for the first season to go from announcement to debut, especially considering that the cast could quickly age out of their roles — just like the kids from Stranger Things.
What will season 2 of Netflix’s Avatar be about?
The first season of the live-action show pretty closely follows the first season of the animated series, so it’s a good guess that we’ll probably get a pretty faithful adaptation of season 2 next time around. The one major change made by the creative team of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender was to add more Azula into season 1, which could mean that she also has an increased role in season 2, but we won’t know that for sure until the new season arrives.
But one thing is clear. There will be more of a time difference between season 1 and season 2 of the Netflix ATLA than the original show. Speaking to Polygon, showrunner Albert Kim says that the writing team went into season 1 fully knowing that any future seasons would have more time elapsed between, and the actors would get noticeably older. So, team accommodated a possible time skip between seasons while working on season 1.
“We wanted to account for the fact that Aang will have grown a little more than he would have in the original show,” he explains. “So one of the things that I know that fans are already noticing in season 1 is: Aang does not really do much waterbending, if at all in season 1. Because we actually wanted to, for one thing, slow down his bending education, [and] it gives us a little more time to do that. And we knew we would have more time.”
Kim also says that the next two seasons of the show present a different challenge than the first season. For one, the gaang bounces all over the map. But for another, the episodes are way more serialized than the cartoon.
“It’s both easier and harder to adapt, because there is a throughline but it means that every story kind of counts,” he says. “As opposed to season 1, where we had to leave some certain stories out and certain adventures and episodes out. But it did not necessarily disrupt the overall arc of the season because they were so self contained.”
So unlike season 1, which had a lot of shuffling of plotlines and characters, season 2 might be more by-the-book.
Who might join the cast for season 2?
The first and last answer here is really all that matters: Who is Netflix going to find to play Toph? The fan-favorite character will be season 2’s big addition, and the news of her casting is likely to be the most important pre-release information we find out, other than the season’s release date of course.
Should I watch the animated Last Airbender and Legend of Korra in the meantime?
Absolutely. Whether you liked season 1 of the live-action show or not, the animated version is quite a bit better and a whole lot more fun, so you should check it out if you haven’t yet — or revisit it if it’s been a few years. Legend of Korra is also great, if you’re still hungry for more Avatar action before season 2 arrives.
Does Netflix have any other live-action adaptations that are worth my time?
Live-action adaptations of animated series aren’t easy to pull off, but One Piece is arguably the best Netflix has done so far. The series can’t quite match the fun of the animated series, and like ATLA, it excises some of the most fun elements of the story, like the quiet moments of the crew getting to know each other better. But, despite those flaws, One Piece is still pretty good and definitely worth a watch.
