Nickelodeon’s popular Avatar: The Last Airbender series is getting three new animated movies that will be coming to theaters.
In a report from Deadline, Nickelodeon and Paramount Animation held a special presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to announce the big news. It was also revealed that Laura Montgomery, who worked on A:TLA and the spinoff Legend of Korra, will be directing the first film. Coming back as producers will be A:TLA creators Bryan Konietzko, Michael DiMartino, and Avatar alum Eric Coleman.
The movies all set in the A:TLA universe are from Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, and they’re in development at Avatar Studios, a studio that was announced back in Feb. 2021 for the purpose of creating new original content based on the A:TLA universe.
President of Animation & Development at Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Ramsey Naito discussed what the creators bring to the table as they forge ahead with more Avatar stories. “As original creators Mike and Bryan expand the Avatar universe with us,” said Natio, “we’re keeping it all in the family with Lauren bringing the same kind of expert, beautiful work she did on the original series to her new directing duties on the forthcoming theatrical,”
There’s no official word yet about what the stories will entail, but with the Avatar reawakening in every generation to bring peace to the land as a recurring theme, it’s likely to continue in the movies. Konietzko has said that they have a multi-tiered plan to utilize the rich and untapped history and future in the Avatar world, and it looks like this is their first step in making that happen.
A live-action adaption of Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming to Netflix that will retell the original story fans have come to know and love. DiMartino and Konietzko were originally on as showrunners but departed in 2020 after creative differences. Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow) is now the showrunner, executive producer, and writer of the series.