SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY In 2010, plans for an embodiment : The last Airbender film trilogy were well afoot : Shyamalan, having fallen in love with the show while watching it with his children, began mobilizing an feat to bring each of the three seasons to the big blind. What happened following was, in short, a catastrophe. The abject first installment killed its siblings in the birthplace, arguably taking its director ‘s career and credibility with it – for a time .
Related : What Went Wrong With The last Airbender Movie
Avatar fans ‘ desires to see the full extent of the vibrant four nations realized in live-action, if any remained after the 2010 film, were doused like water tossed on a fire. The Netflix learning and remake concisely rekindled promise, only to come crashing down when writers Brian Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino left the new live-action Avatar project due to creative differences, reanimating fears of the previous live-action adaptation. placid, prior to all this, Shyamalan ‘s plans for a last Airbender sequel ( and trilogy ) were quite intriguing .
The Last Airbender 2 Would Have Been Darker
The name of the franchise game in the early 2010s was “ dark ”. The tail end of the Harry Potter series had ventured far from its initial childish flightiness and veered into game, gut-wrenching despondency. Christopher Nolan ‘s edgy Dark Knight trilogy was recontextualizing franchise properties through the lens of high-art, and the newcomer DCEU brought Superman back to theaters in muffle colors with Man of Steel. It would stand to reason Shyamalan, whose works rarely enjoy camp or brightness flush in little doses, would have steered his trilogy immediately into this vogue, opting for a dark-and-edgy movie sequel. indeed, Shyamalan himself was quoted describing a electric potential sequel saying “ In the second depart, which is my favorite, it gets dark, things go faulty and Aang makes a draw of bad choices. I love that as a second act of the history ” ( via M. Night Fans ) .
Shyamalan is n’t off-base in his judgment. avatar : The final Airbender temper 2 features some of the most harrow challenges that face Team Avatar : the opening episode ‘s premise has Aang measuredly relive injury in an unhealthy feat to unlock the Avatar state. Their travel through the Earth Kingdom features unpolished portraits of refugees of war, corrupt political conspiracies, and sociopathic brainwash. Two of the show ‘s most acclaim episodes “ Tales of Ba Sing Se ” ( season 2, episode 15 ) and “ Appa ‘s Lost Days ” ( season 2, episode 16 ) earn the season high marks for inducing viewers ‘ tears. such atrocious, at times downright brutal submit matter, combined with an industry drift to bolster such, could ‘ve made for a truly colored movie sequel .
Azula Would Have Been The Main Villain
far compounding on the iniquity of The Last Airbender 2 would be the central villain, introduced in live-action mannequin at the very end of the 2010 film. Cruel and calculated, Azula etched herself into the minds of Avatar fans with her chase and inhuman pursuit of Team Avatar beginning in season 2. Shyamalan described his handwriting for the second movie, telling MTV News : ” I ‘ve written a draft that I ‘m actually happy with and is dark and rich, and it has a fantastic antagonist in it in Azula, who ‘s kind of like our alone real, pure adversary in the series, so I ‘m agitate about that. ”
But for all her magnificence as a fictional character, she hardly can claim sole ownership of villainy in temper 2. Jet serves as an interestingly ambiguous ally, then antagonist, then ally again for Team Avatar. Zuko and Iroh enjoy a deep and rich arch of their own. But most matter to, possibly, as an extra force of evil to oppose Aang and his friends is the Dai Li and their sedately nefarious mastermind Long Feng. Should The last Airbender 2 have taken a dark note, far-flung governmental corruption would ‘ve provided an interest avenue to execute such a sight, and Long Feng would ‘ve been the poster child for this plot .
Related : embodiment : What The last Airbender Cast & Crew Think About Shyamalan ‘s Movie
With all these threads, antagonists, and narrative arch, it becomes clear that the tax of whittling down 20 episodes into two hours presents an arduous challenge, one besides great for any director to sanely overcome. A steer of criticism frequently levied at The last Airbender was that it failed to employ any of the astuteness, richness, and world-building of the source material, alternatively stopping to situate audiences in a familiar scene from the series, read expositional dialogue, then move onto the adjacent forgettable view. Season 2 arguably packs more content into its runtime than its predecessor, meaning that possibly a choice of fewer plot threads and characters done well would ‘ve had a greater opportunity at success than more done ailing. If it were made, audeinces would ‘ve seen whether Shyamalan learned that lesson from the first film.
The Kyoshi Warriors Would Have Appeared
Though cut from The last Airbender, the Kyoshi Warriors would have made a exultant introduction in The last Airbender 2. Shyamalan was quoted as having cut them out of the first film ( and out of The final Airbender DVD extras ) explicitly because he was saving them for the sequel, and he did n’t want to have to reintroduce them. It stands to reason they would ‘ve factored heavily into his sequel plans, moving their season 1 insertion into the second movie, while keeping a lot of their season 2 functions in tact .
The Kyoshi Warriors play no little separate in the discharge of Avatar : The survive Airbender season 2. team Avatar makes a revert visit to their eponymous island, they track and help save a bemused Appa, and ultimately they provide furtive introduction for Azula and her compatriots by virtue of their capture. Fans hoping to see the Kyoshi Warriors’ distinctive count brought to life in the beginning film would surely have had their hopes realized in a sequel. In fact, leader Suki ‘s relationship with Sokka could have remedied some of the latter ‘s flaws in his The Last Airbender version, possibly adding the drollery and center so lacking from the live-action translate .
next : Will The last Airbender 2 Happen ? here ‘s What We Know
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About The Author
Gabriel Ponniah
( 139 Articles Published )
Gabriel Ponniah is a film maker and writer originally from Columbia, Maryland. He has worked both in and out of the entertainment diligence as a freelance godhead and for respective product companies in film, television, and endowment development. Gabriel is excited for his eminent return to work in the industry in Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with highest honors in Radio-Television-Film. When he ‘s not dissect films, he ‘s playing basketball, fudge, or cheering on his darling sports team : The New Orleans Saints .
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