Netflix has released a live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which has spawned a sequel series, comic books, and a high level of interest in additional stories set in the same universe. The show has been heavily scrutinized by the original series’ fans, especially after news broke two years into development that the creators of the cartoon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, had walked away from the project due to creative differences.
Netflix’s adaptation has several notable differences from the original. The show drops the viewer in the middle of the action, filling in much of the backstory through flashbacks as the story progresses. Netflix also introduces the past Avatars, such as Avatar Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman), who plays a bigger role in the story. The biggest modification Netflix makes concerns Omashu, the Earth Kingdom city that in the new series becomes home to every single plot that Netflix can cram into it. The show combines the storylines of handsome anarchist Jet (Sebastian Amoruso), the traitorous Mechanist (Danny Pudi), and the secret tunnels under Omashu, smushing together characters, places, and events that originally appeared at different points.
In the original, Bumi, the king of Omashu, is a more antagonistic figure, while in the Netflix adaptation, he is portrayed as a more sympathetic character.
