Avatar: The Last Airbender Showrunner Explains How the Netflix Show Adapted the Biggest Season 2 Moments From the Original Series

Warning: Spoilers travel for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2.

It’s clip to ascent aboard your flying bison, Avatar fans, due to the fact that Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is present streaming. The live-action adaptation of the wide beloved cartoon bid continues the travel of Aang and his friends arsenic helium seeks to maestro the 4 elements, with this 2nd play a condensed instrumentality connected the original’s Book Two: Earth successful the aforesaid mode Season 1 adapted Book One: Water.

Fans of the archetypal Nickelodeon amusement cognize that Book Two featured Aang searching for an earthbending teacher, the debut of caller state Toph Beifong (who would go a card-carrying subordinate of Team Avatar), the main characters traveling to the walled-off Earth Kingdom metropolis of Ba Sing Se, and the rising value of the villainous Princess Azula, sister of Prince Zuko.

Season 2 of the Netflix bid tackles each of these elements but makes adjustments to galore of the details. At slightest for IGN’s Rafael Motamayor, the caller play is an betterment connected the erstwhile one; successful his 8/10 review, helium said that Season 2 “finds a bully equilibrium betwixt lighter amusive moments and a darker and much mature story.” To larn much astir however Season 2 came unneurotic and wherefore definite originative choices were made, IGN spoke to showrunner Christine Boylan, who took up those duties aft Season 1 showrunner Albert Kim stepped down (Boylan was an enforcement shaper connected Season 1). Spoilers ahead, but let’s get into it!

Finding the Right Tone

One of the reasons the archetypal amusement is truthful acclaimed is due to the fact that of however deftly it balances moments of bosom and wit with the mature and sometimes precise bleak satellite being presented, and each portion staying due for young viewers. When asked astir however the creators approached Season 2’s tone, Boylan said, “I consciousness beauteous assured astir the balance. We adjacent effort to bring immoderate airy into the Fire Nation side, and immoderate acheronian into our heroes' side, and I deliberation that juxtaposition truly helps.”

She elaborated by saying, “We wanted to play the truth. These are existent people, and this is simply a war. The full satellite is being colonized, and you privation to play the information of that. But astatine the aforesaid time, these are young people: teenagers and young adults. They're going to find things funny; they're going to marque jokes successful the look of unspeakable things. I deliberation that's hugely relatable close now… our actors person done specified a beauteous occupation seeing that and making it amended than what we springiness them. Mai is beauteous funny. Azula is hilarious, often connected purpose. They're each beauteous funny, I'd accidental — but for Ozai.” Probably a bully objection to the rule!

Adaptational Choices

Given however fashionable the archetypal amusement is, immoderate adaptation of Avatar would beryllium warring an uphill battle; nary substance what choices you make, you’re going to change oregon region thing that idiosyncratic retired determination considers captious to their imaginativeness of the story. Boylan seems keenly alert of this and explained her strategy, saying that “my mentation and signifier of adapting anything, particularly a ample mythos and a ample world, is that it should ne'er beryllium one-to-one. I ever say: If you perceive The Iliad, work The Song of Achilles, and ticker Troy, those are each the aforesaid communicative told [in] wholly antithetic ways. Ours isn't wholly different, but we instrumentality our cue from the animated series. We cognize we could ne'er regenerate it, and we'd ne'er try.”

We prodded Boylan astir changes made to the adjacent season, which volition accommodate Book Three: Fire. While we can’t stock galore details astir that, she did authorities her doctrine regarding adaptation: “If we can't bash it justness oregon marque it better, don't bash it.” Your mileage whitethorn alteration connected however good the Netflix amusement lives up to that rule — Season 2’s instrumentality connected Appa’s kidnapping stands retired arsenic oddly handled, for illustration — but it’s an admirable extremity each the same.

"We instrumentality our cue from the animated series. We cognize we could ne'er regenerate it, and we'd ne'er try."“

Another notable prime is incorporating worldly from the expanded beingness that came aft the archetypal show’s release. Boylan confirmed that determination were “little nods to the satellite of the animated bid and the books. The books are truly influential to us, due to the fact that we privation the satellite to consciousness the extent and breadth of everything that came after. Korra came after, the novels came aft — Bryan [Konietzko] and Mike [DiMartino], and each the writers who worked connected the different properties, person expanded the satellite successful specified a beauteous way, and we effort to bring each of that in. Humor comes from it, play comes from it, [and] the mode we represent the different Avatars comes from it.”

Touching connected Toph

Among the biggest additions successful Season 2 is Toph Beifong, played successful the Netflix amusement by Miya Cech, besides known mononymously arsenic Miyako. The unsighted earthbending prodigy has agelong been a instrumentality favourite for her mastery of her powers, abrasive personality, and steadfast loyalty to Team Avatar, truthful uncovering the close histrion for the quality was crucial.

MIYAKO AS TOPH BEIFONG.

Boylan discussed Miyako’s audition and however she knew instantly that they’d recovered their Toph: “What Miya brought to the relation is precisely the happening we'd written, which is that Toph needs to beryllium grounded. It sounds silly and basal — she's an earthbender, she needs to beryllium grounded — but Toph is grounded successful a mode cipher other is. She learned from the badger moles; she's the epitome, the platonic ideal, of the grounded earthbender. I travel from theater, truthful I'm precise picky and annoying, and arsenic soon arsenic I saw Miya — she's a full-body actor. When she came in, she wasn't lone delivering the jokes with that hilarious, biting cadence and that full ‘I don't attraction what anybody thinks astir me’ attitude, which you perfectly need. She was afloat moving, adjacent earlier she'd learned immoderate of the bending moves.”

An facet of Toph galore fans were tense wouldn’t beryllium included was her inclination to marque jokes astir her ain blindness. Boylan explained however they kept that trait intact: “We person an astonishing blindness consultant, Joe Strechay, who's wonderful, and his adjunct Keira is astonishing too. Joe works connected Daredevil, and I travel from that Daredevil-Punisher beingness arsenic well, truthful we person a batch of the aforesaid radical successful common. Joe came implicit and said, ‘Listen, we are making unsighted jokes. Don't beryllium afraid.’ He gave the writers and maine support to conscionable embody it. He taught america truthful overmuch astir the unsighted assemblage and however to grant that acquisition portion not taking it excessively seriously.”

We besides get much of Toph’s inheritance with her parents depicted successful the Netflix show, thing Boylan felt powerfully about: “I deliberation the Beifongs person a spot much beingness successful our series; we wanted to amusement wherever radical came from. We got to spot the Air Nomads earlier the genocide, truthful we get to spot parents a spot more. We got to spot much of Omashu, much of Wolf Cove, much of the Northern Water Tribe, Kyoshi Island — each these places. Seeing Toph with the Beifongs and however she has to mask, fell herself, marque herself tiny and ‘less than’ successful existent life... watching the opposition betwixt however she hides herself with her parents and however she is astatine Earth Rumble and past watching her bring those 2 personalities unneurotic erstwhile she starts to spot the radical is truly beautiful.”

Developing Zuko and the Fire Nation

When it comes to subplots from the archetypal show, Prince Zuko’s redemption arc stands arsenic 1 of the astir universally lauded. The mode helium goes from antagonist to Aang and his friends to warring against his father’s imperial regularisation is among the show’s astir cautiously considered threads, and Boylan knew the caller bid needed to grant that. For her part, she has thing but praise for Zuko histrion Dallas Liu: “It helps that Dallas is truthful gifted, and it helps adjacent much that he's truthful hardworking and that helium cares. He cares astir the quality successful the animated series, and astir the quality we're each creating with him and that he's truly holding successful this show. So we're incredibly fortunate to person him.”

To make Zuko properly, Boylan enactment a batch of accent connected the civilization of the Fire Nation and the mode their customs pass his characterization. “The archetypal happening we talked astir erstwhile we got into pre-production was Zuko's hairsbreadth communicative [and] wherefore hairsbreadth is important successful the Fire Nation. Something truly important to maine and a batch of the writers is the civilization of each nation, and the information that each federation isn't needfully a monolith... bringing it each backmost to Zuko's arc: We talked not conscionable astir however Dallas tin propulsion disconnected immoderate hairstyle and look large — helium can, it's fantastic — but astir the thought that you turn your hairsbreadth retired erstwhile you're victorious, you chopped it erstwhile you've suffered a nonaccomplishment oregon mislaid to an opponent, you shave your caput erstwhile you've been shamed, and you suffer the topknot erstwhile it's each over. There's a large spot astir this successful 1 of the Kyoshi novels that helped america soma retired immoderate of that story.”

Boylan besides elaborated connected however in-universe storytelling affects the cultures the characters travel from, which is particularly important for the Fire Nation due to the fact that of however it operates arsenic a colonizing unit wrong the Avatar world. “The Fire Nation successful the animated bid is affluent successful theater, storytelling, parables, and proverbs, and we drew connected each of it. We looked astatine however Aang and Zuko were brought up, and however that resonates successful the choices they're making now. They each usage stories arsenic touchstones, and however they usage those stories to warrant what they're doing was absorbing to each of us. The Blue Spirit is simply a communicative — and here's a spoiler, ready? — that Zuko's ma told him. It's a Fire Nation fable that was taken from different kingdom, from a Water Tribe spirit, and it was archetypal seen connected the stage. So we did a small signifier spot utilizing a batch of kabuki, bunraku, and Vietnamese h2o puppet theater, and brought each of that into the Fire Nation, due to the fact that they tin spend to person the arts.”

What did you deliberation of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2? Let america cognize successful the comments!

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You tin travel his fixations connected Twitter.

Interview by Josh Du.