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Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender has a change of leadership in the second season, with Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani stepping up as showrunners for the live-action adaptation of the beloved Book 2 of the animated series.
To that end, the pair have revealed their approach to season 2 – and why some moments will be left alone if they felt they were better suited to the Nickelodeon show, which ran from 2005 to 2008.
"We made a lot of conscious choices about what things work better in animation that we wouldn't want to touch, and what things maybe couldn't be explored in enough depth in animation that we could [then] explore with live action, live bodies on live sets and locations," Boylan told GamesRadar+.
Boylan added, "We think of it as a myth, as a legend that can be told and retold again and again and again. So, this is the retelling."
Raisani, meanwhile, was keen to point out that a key creative struggle was "finding that balance" of what could make the leap to live action while still keeping the spirit of the original.
"We're both huge fans of the animated series, and we know what the fanbase is like," Raisani said. "We want fans to love our show, and continue to love the animated show. So it's finding that balance of including the things that can fit into a live action adaptation, because we can't do everything, and ensuring that it felt like an honest connection to the source material. It'll never be one-to-one, you know, that's not the intention."
Raisani continued, "When you watch it, you should get the feels that you had when you watch the original, like you should feel that connection to the original, while feeling like you're getting a new experience in a new journey, and I find that's the thing that I go back to the most, and just make check in with, like, are we getting the vibes right?"
At first blush, the showrunners can be confident in a job well done. Early reactions to Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 – thanks to the premiere episode streaming via Tudum – have been overwhelmingly positive.
With Book 2 being held aloft as the original series' storytelling peak, it appears the writers and creatives behind the Netflix show have understood the assignment as the Gaang converge on Ba Sing Se in their bid to stop the Fire Nation. Yip yip!
Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 is streaming on Netflix from June 25.
For more, check out the Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 release schedule. Then, dive into our picks for the best anime on Netflix.
