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8 months ago
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Avatar: The Last Airbender is making a showrunner change.
Albert Kim, who served as showrunner and wrote the pilot for Netflix’s hit live-action adaptation anime adaptation, is moving on with Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani taking over showrunner duties for seasons two and three.
Kim shepherded the show for nearly two and a half years and will remain on the show as an executive producer. He has just signed a deal to join Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians as an exec producer after it was renewed for a second season.
Raisani was director, executive producer and a VFX supervisor on season one. He has previously exec produced series including Lost in Space and worked as a VFX supervisor on series including Stranger Things and Game of Thrones.
Boylan was a co-exec producer on the first season. She has previously worked as a co-exec producer on series including Citadel, Poker Face and The Punisher as well as working on series including Castle and Once Upon A Time.
Avatar: The Last Airbender has been a hit for Netflix. The series debuted in February and topped the streamer’s weekly English-language TV list with 21.2M views in its opening weekend. According to Netflix, it reached the Top 10 in 92 countries. It also managed to surpass One Piece.
It was quickly renewed for seasons two and three, concluding with the third, filming both in close succession in order to mitigate the fact that child actors tend to grow up quickly.
Kim replaced original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko in 2020. Sources told Deadline that Kim was looking for new opportunities after the long development process on Avatar. He will now move to Percy Jackson as well as look to develop new projects. Kim previously worked with Percy Jackson exec producer Craig Silverstein on Pantheon and Nikita and will now work him and showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz on the Disney Branded Television-produced series.
The series comes from Rideback, whose boss Dan Lin, an exec producer on the series, was recently named Netflix’s new film chief, replacing Scott Stuber.
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. “Benders” are people that have the ability to telekinetically manipulate and control the element corresponding to their nation, using gestures based on Chinese martial arts. The “Avatar” is the only individual with the ability to bend all four elements.
The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar.
Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a quest to save the world and fight back against the onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way. Ken Leung and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee also star.
Kim is repped by WME. Boylan is repped by WME, Julie Bloom at Art/Work Entertainment and attorney Erik Hyman at Paul Hastings. Raisani is repped by CAA.
