As a live-action adaptation, Netflix’s Avatar: Lord of the Elements is making some changes. One has huge implications for the future of the fantasy series
After One Piece, Avatar: The Lord of the Elements is Netflix’s second successful live-action adaptation of a popular animated series within a year. Although the live-action adventures of Aang, Katara Sokka and co. roughly stick to the original, there are a few changes.
The most important change compared to the original series Avatar – The Lord of the Elements is hidden at the very end of the first season and is unlikely to have been noticed by many fans. However, it will have a major impact on the continuation of the fantasy series – and already solves the Netflix adaptation’s biggest problem
Netflix’s Avatar changes the arrival of Zosin’s comet
It’s a small but important detail. At the very end of the eighth episode, Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) and his advisor talk about the ominous celestial body called Zosin’s Comet. A hundred years ago, this comet amplified the powers of the then Fire Lord Zosin many times over, enabling him to destroy the Air Nomads with ease.
After more than 100 years, the arrival of the comet is once again on the horizon, making Ozai an unstoppable foe. When exactly will that be? This is where the animated original and the Netflix adaptation differ
(Zosin’s comet enhanced fire)
In the original, there are only a few months left until Zosin’s comet will appear. This gives the story an enormous sense of urgency. Because until then, Aang must learn to tame all four elements and thus exploit his full power as the Avatar. The live-action version, on the other hand, lacks an exact time frame.
Removing the time span for Aang’s Avatar adventure until his final battle was a conscious decision by showrunner Albert Kim, as he revealed to Entertainment Weekly :
‘We removed that ticking clock from our show for the time being because we couldn’t know exactly how old our actors would be in subsequent seasons. We definitely thought about it for Season 1 so that we could take into account puberty, growing up and the passage of time – all these things that happen to people in real life and don’t happen to cartoon characters.
Albert Kim’s explanation makes sense. It will be at least two years before a 2nd season of Avatar could appear on Netflix. The young stars in particular will look much older by then. This is particularly evident in the case of Aang actor Gordon Cormier, who was 12 years old at the time of filming the first season. He is now 14.
Between season 1 and a potential season 2, there would therefore have to be a major leap in time to explain the obvious ageing process of the young avatar. This also means that the original story’s time frame of a few months cannot be implemented in Netflix’s live-action series
When is Avatar: Lord of the Elements season 2 coming to Netflix?
What exactly a time jump between the seasons will look like and what impact it will have on the story will only be revealed in season 2 of Avatar. This has not yet been officially ordered by Netflix. Behind the scenes, however, Albert Kim and his team of writers are already working on scripts for the sequel.
If the fantasy series is renewed in the near future, fans will still have to be prepared for a long wait. Due to the time-consuming production, season 2 is not expected to arrive on Netflix until 2026.
