‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Fills Hall H with Love and New Projects

The beloved Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as its overall franchise, is no stranger to San Diego Comic-Con. However, if its highly anticipated Hall H panel on Thursday, July 23, was anything to go off of, it’s that the hype and anticipation for everything new and upcoming from the franchise is skyrocketing.

As it’s been well documented on here, the long awaited feature film, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, has been dragged through every element in the Avatar cycle; from its move from a theatrical release to Paramount+ only, to the film getting leaked online earlier this year, to the film being released in theaters, but only two of them, and for about a week.

It’s been a lot, although with the exception of a purposely unsubtle nod to work being leaked, there’s been no mention of the chaos that has been happening surrounding the film’s release during the panel. Rather, the panel — made up of the co-creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Avatar Aang director Lauren Montgomery, and cast members Dionne Quan (Toph), Roman Zaragoza (Sokka), Jessica Matten (Katara), Eric Nam (Aang), and Dave Bautista (Tagah), and moderated by the voice actor of Avatar Korra from The Legend of Korra, Janet Varney — harnessed on both the love and respect that the creative team has for the world and its characters, and how they approached them when working on the film.

The full panel, sans the images and footage they showed onscreen, can be viewed in its entirety on the Avatar Legends YouTube channel. However, as far as notable takeaways go, they include:

• Konietzko talked of how while the initial assumption was for the film to be 3D like a lot of animated films nowadays, that eventually came to a halt when remembering that “This is Avatar. This is a love letter to Japanese anime. This needs to stay 2D. These characters need to be hand drawn.”

• Konietzko created a new writing system called Avatarian, in order to be mindful the real-life, multicultural influences in the Avatar world.

• Republic City — the main setting from Korra — is in the film. Montgomery talked in depth on creating an earlier version of the city from what fans are already familiar with, and taking it back in time, through interweaving influences from the different nations that reside there.

• As Montgomery explained, when working on the character designs, Katara was meant to be pregnant at one point, Sokka was designed not to be “too hot,” and the film’s antagonist, Tagah, was originally going to be an earthbender.

• Bautista talked a lot about screaming and how it helps him let off nerves, especially back during his wrestling days. The skill set came in handy when recording for Tagah.

• Zaragoza connected with the original voice actors for Zuko and Sokka, Dante Basco and Jack DeSena respectively, to help him prepare for his performance.

• Matten embodies the character qualities of Katara through her work in Indigenous communities — specifically in working with kids on their mental health, via learning how to act.

Although Avatar Aang was the main focus of the panel, other announcements were made as well; such as the release of the film’s score from the franchise’s longtime composer, Jeremy Zuckerman, the upcoming Korra concert tour, and the release of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game.

Also, after being originally announced at last year’s Comic-Con, a first glimpse was given of the new series, Avatar: Seven Havens. Set in a time where it’s more dystopian than peaceful, and the Avatar is marked not as a source of balance but of blame, fans won’t have to wait long to see how it pans out, as Book 1 drops on Paramount+ on October 9. This will mark a first for the franchise with Saheli Khan — the voice of Pavi — becoming the first Asian American actor to voice an Avatar in an Avatar animated series.

It is a sight to behold on just how much this franchise continues to resonate with audiences over two decades later. For all the challenges that have been overcome and still being navigated through, for Avatar to be taken as seriously by the higher ups who own and distribute it, the need for this panel to even be held in Hall H really shows how much this fandom has grown and how the stories, themes, and messages are everlasting.

(Note: Roundtable discussion on Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is coming soon.)