It’s a big day for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have announced they are back at Nickelodeon to launch Avatar Studios, which will focus on making for content for the franchise.
Their first project will be an animated theatrical film set to begin production this year set in the universe, though no word as to which story they will tell. However, there will be several other projects in the near future.
The two released a joint statement in Entertainment Weekly:
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 19 years since we created Avatar: The Last Airbender. But even after all that time, there are still many stories and time periods in Aang’s world that we are eager to bring to life. We are fortunate to have an ever-growing community of passionate fans that enjoys exploring the Avatarverse as much as we do. And with this new Avatar Studios venture we have an unparalleled opportunity to develop our franchise and its storytelling on a vast scale, in myriad exciting ways and mediums.”
They added, “We’re excited to be back at Nickelodeon where Avatar began, doing what we do best in the biggest way possible. We can’t wait to build the great teams and productions to make all of this fantasy a reality.”
There was controversy abound after the two left the Netflix live-action adaptation, citing that they had lost creative control over the project. This news made many fans nervous about just what changes the show would be making to the original vision.
Here’s hoping we get an Avatar Kyoshi project!