Unaired Avatar: The Last Airbender pilot released for free, showing how different the show could have been

Avatar: The Last Airbender has become one of the most beloved shows of its generation, thanks partly to its surprising depth for a Nickelodeon cartoon.

The series' pilot, though, was once quite different. For instance, Katara was once actually called Kya, and Aang was previously voiced by Mitchel Musso, who would go on to feature in Hannah Montana and voice Jeremy Johnson in Phineas and Ferb.

Thanks to Nickelodeon's celebratory event, The Last Airbender: Origins, the unaired pilot has been made available to the world for free (watch it here), showcasing just how different the acclaimed series almost was.

The opener starts very differently to the one we all love, with Aang, Kaya, and Sokka already friends rather than Aang – who would later be voiced by Zach Tyler Eisen – being stuck in an iceberg. Momo also makes an appearance despite not being in the final show until episode three.

EW also points out numerous personality differences between the pilot and the final show. Kya leans more on Aang than in the final show, and the Airbender himself doesn't quite have the same charm about him.

Before The Last Airbender: Origins event, the pilot was available on the series' DVD box-set. The new special is narrated by creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the show's creators who recently shocked fans by stepping away from Netflix's upcoming live-action version of the show. In better news, The Last Airbender's sequel, The Legend of Korra, is now on Netflix.

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Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.