In case you’re new to the Airbender universe – Netflix’s adventure drama Avatar: The Last Airbender is a live-action remake of the popular Nickelodeon animated series of the same name, which debuted in 2005. It is linked to the 2010 M Night Shyamalan film The Last Airbender – that was also a live-action version of the cartoon – but none of the Airbender properties is anything to do with the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar, whose copyright lawyers nabbed the simple one-word title everyone wanted. Being forced to add a colon and a clunky subheading to its name did not stop Avatar: The Last Airbender from becoming one of the most acclaimed animated series of all time. Almost two decades on, the fanbase is still there, ready to follow the story anew.
The narrative fits the template of countless fantasy series, with a world split into kingdoms that are perpetually at war or on the brink of it, where young people wield an uncommon influence and where magical powers exist to be used or abused. Here, there are regions defined by fire, earth, water and air, with each population containing “benders” – people with the ability to bend their local element to their will and use it as a weapon. At any one time there is a single person, the Avatar, who has the potential to learn how to bend all four elements and become an omnipotent, celestial peacekeeper whose eyes turn blue when they’re about to sort a bad guy out.
