Confirming rumors that have been swirling this week, it's been officially announced that an all-new Avatar: The Last Airbender animated movie is in the works.
Nickelodeon is set to launch Avatar Studios, a new division designed to create original content spanning animated series and movies based in the world of the The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, with original creators and executive producers Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko on board as co-chief creative officers.
The first project out of the gate will be a new animated theatrical film, which is set to start production later this year.
“Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra have grown at least ten-fold in popularity since their original hit runs on Nickelodeon, and Ramsey Naito and I are incredibly excited to have Mike and Bryan’s genius talent on board to helm a studio devoted to expanding their characters and world into new content and formats for fans everywhere,” said Brian Robbins, President, ViacomCBS Kids & Family.
“Creator-driven stories and characters have long been the hallmarks of Nickelodeon, and Avatar Studios is a way to give Mike and Bryan the resources and runway to open up their imaginations even more and dive deeper into the action and mythology of Avatar as we simultaneously expand upon that world and the world of content available on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon."
We got word back in 2018 that a new live-action series was in development for Netflix, but there's been no updates since, so this announcement most likely means that's no longer happening.
Avatar: The Last Airbender ran on Nickelodeon for three seasons from 2005 to 2008, and was followed by four seasons of The Legend of Korra starting in 2012. There was also the M. Night Shyamalan lmovie we don't talk about.