According to sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us that the Snyder Cut of Justice League is coming to HBO Max and a Percy Jackson TV series is in development – Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation will allegedly feature not one, but several original LGBT characters.
Of course, the universe of Aang and friends is no stranger to diversity. The Last Airbender featured a multitude of strong female characters which other shows would have relegated to objects of sex appeal without a second thought. Its sequel series, The Legend of Korra, even featured a powerful, tomboyish female protagonist, and one who ended her final season in entering what was heavily implied to be a romantic relationship with her female co-star at that.
As progressive as creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were to make the lead of their 2014 animated show for kids and teens a lesbian, their decision to do so was heavily criticized for a number of reasons. For one, Korra’s sexual orientation was extremely poorly set up in the earlier chapters of her story, making the same-sex relationship feel less like an organic element of the plot and more like an ideological add-on.
What’s more, given that The Legend of Korra had failed to live up to the impossible standards set by its titanic predecessor, fans accused DiMartino and Konietzko of using Korra’s sexuality to draw in some extra viewers by means of shock value. But while the creators may have failed to do the LGBT section of their audience justice in the past, Netflix has now given them a second chance to right their wrongs.
While the streaming service has more money than it knows what to do with, a live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender has been known to be one of the most accursed projects in all of Hollywood, at least since The Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan gruesomely butchered the beloved animated show with his excruciating adaptation back in 2010. That said, if there’s anyone who can pull this off, it’s the show’s original creators.
