Original star Dante Basco reflects on the franchise leading up to its first animated feature film.
In a recent interview, Basco was asked if he or his fellow cast members predicted the show Avatar would become so popular. He said, “Absolutely not. When we began working on it, none of us had any idea it would become what it is today.”
“You know, it was really a weird thing when I was first auditioning for Avatar because I was doing Jake Long: American Dragon, both me and Mae Whitman were doing that show, and then we got this new show, which was for Nickelodeon,” Basco continued.
Everyone knows Nickelodeon for shows like SpongeBob SquarePants and CatDog – those are the classics. So when they sent me a script for something totally different – a big, adventurous story inspired by Asian anime – I was surprised. It just didn’t feel like Nickelodeon at all.
The Future of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Franchise Has Never Looked Better
The world of Avatar: The Last Airbender is expanding! A new live-action series, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender (previously known as The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender), is coming soon to Paramount+, continuing the story from the original animated show.
The movie continues the story of the original characters several years after Fire Lord Ozai’s defeat and the end of the Hundred-Year War. It centers around a new airbender named Tagah, who arrives from another time, and is voiced by Dave Bautista.
Fans are excited for the upcoming release of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, but the journey to release hasn’t been without issues. It was recently announced in December that the series will be available for streaming directly on Paramount+.
Fans strongly disliked this decision, and it likely contributed to the events that followed a few months later.
In April, quickly flooding social media.
Almost immediately after the initial leaks, full copies of the movie appeared all over the internet, frustrating Paramount Skydance, even though people who saw the leaked versions generally liked them.
In the weeks after its release, the title performed well, only surpassed in total downloads by Project Hail Mary. Although Paramount likely hoped for a record-breaking launch, the results showed the title continued to be popular with audiences.
That refers to the next Avatar, a young woman named Pavi, and being the Avatar makes her a prime target.
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is currently slated to premiere on Paramount+ on October 9.
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2026-05-29 23:11