Warning! This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender has incredible fidelity to the source material, yet one change in Aang’s Waterbending training stands out as a blatant mistake. Despite changes being made to the animated show’s timeline to condense a larger season into eight episodes, Netflix’s live-action adaptation manages to retain the best elements of Nickelodeon’s beloved cartoon. From The Last Airbender‘s past Avatars to the realistic fighting styles of bending, Netflix’s show is a worthy reimagining of what came before it.
6 Real-Life Fighting Styles To Expect In Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1
Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender is expected to feature aspects of six real-life martial art forms in its first season.
Concerning the bending specifically, Netflix’s The Last Airbender shines in comparison to M. Night Shyamalan’s feature film adaptation from 2010. Through showcasing Aang’s Airbending and Avatar mastery as well as the warriors of the Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Water Tribes, the live-action show includes a myriad of fantastic bending fight sequences. However, one major change is made from the original show concerning Aang’s Waterbending training, a change that will need to be rectified going into Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2.
Aang Hasn’t Learned A Single Waterbending Move In Netflix’s Last Airbender Season 1
The change in question is that by the time of The Last Airbender season 1’s ending, Aang has not learned a single Waterbending move. In the original show, the earlier episodes of its debut season saw Katara teaching Aang the limited moves she has learned. These scenes, combined with Aang learning the moves of the Waterbending Scroll, saw him become increasingly skilled in Waterbending before learning from Master Pakku in the Northern Water Tribe.
However, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender does not follow the same trend. Throughout the entirety of the live-action show’s first season, Aang only Waterbends when in the Avatar State. Aside from these moments of incredible power committed by other beings such as the Ocean Spirit, Aang’s Waterbending training does not begin as early as it did in the source material.
Aang’s Lack Of Waterbending Can Only Be Fixed With 1 Storytelling Trick
That said, Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 could fix this lack of Waterbending by being set after a time jump. The final few scenes of Netflix’s The Last Airbender season 1 include a conversation between Katara and Master Pakku in which the former says Aang still needs to learn Waterbending, while the latter insists he could not have asked for a better master. This implies that Aang’s Waterbending training will begin after the culmination of The Last Airbender season 1, meaning a time jump could fix the Avatar’s Waterbending absence.
The Last Airbender season 2 could pick up a few weeks or even months after season 1’s ending, given that the show did not put a time limit on when Sozin’s Comet will return. If so, it could be mentioned how Aang and Katara have been endlessly training since the North Pole, showing Aang to be much more adept at Waterbending than he was in Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1. Not only would this catch Aang up on the Waterbending he missed in the show’s first season, but it would allow Katara to come into her own as an even stronger Waterbending Master.
All episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender season 1 are now streaming on Netflix.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Live-Action)
Based on the acclaimed animated Nickelodeon television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender is an action-adventure fantasy series developed by Albert Kim. The series follows Aang, a young man training to harness the four elements to live up to the title of Avatar – the one who will restore balance to the world.
- Cast
- Gordon Cormier , Dallas Liu , Kiawentiio , Ian Ousley , Daniel Dae Kim , Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
- Release Date
- February 22, 2024
- Where To Watch
- Netflix
