Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender showrunner Albert Kim admitted he and his team made changes to Katara’s character because of gender issues.
Avatar: The Last Airbender. (L to R) Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
In an interview with IGN, Kim explained what he saw as core characteristics that the show would not change regarding the characters, “The characters, we had to dimensionalize them, but there are certain core … I would say there’s a core DNA to the characters that you don’t want to mess with, whether it’s Aang, like I said, his childlike goofiness, his sense of humor, the burden of his responsibility, Sokka and his humor and his pragmatic outlook on life, Katara’s warmth and her optimism.”
“Those things had to carry through into our version,” he asserted. “So you start with the characters, and you say, “What’s the essence of the characters that got a big change? And what’s the room where we can expand it a little more?”
Avatar: The Last Airbender. (L to R) Gordon Cormier as Aang, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Kiawentiio as Katara in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2023
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However, he would then admit the show made changes to Katara based on gender issues, “The cartoon, for as great as it was, was 15 years ago. And so, things have changed. There are certain roles I think that Katara did in the cartoon that we didn’t necessarily also do here.
He added, “I mean, I don’t want to really get into a lot of that, but some gender issues that didn’t quite translate.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender. (L to R) Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2023
Not only did he confirm that the show makes changes to Katara’s character, but it also changed Sokka.
When IGN’s Alex Stedman describes Sokka as “**shole,” Kim responded, “Yeah. So we had to guard against that kind of stuff. And so, those are things that aren’t really changing a character as so much as updating them a little bit.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ian Ousley as Sokka in episode 101 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
Kim’s comments come in the wake of actors Kiawentiio Tarbel and Ian Ousley who play Katara and Sokka claiming the show removed “how sexist Sokka was.”
Kiawentiio told Entertainment Weekly, “I feel like we also took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy.”
Ousley concurred, “Yeah, totally. There are things that were redirected just because it might play a little differently [in live action].”
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Casey Camp-Horinek as Gran Gran in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
Interestingly, the animated show’s original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koneitzko left the project back in August 2020 explaining Netflix reneged on their promise to give them creative control.
DiMartino shared in a letter, “In a joint announcement for the series, Netflix said that it was committed to honoring our vision for this retelling and to supporting us on creating the series. And we expressed how excited we were for the opportunity to be at the helm. Unfortunately, things did not go as we had hoped.”
He continued, “I realized I couldn’t control the creative direction of the series, but I could control how I responded. So, I chose to leave the project. It was the hardest professional decision I’ve ever had to make, and certainly not one that I took lightly, but it was necessary for my happiness and creative integrity.”
“And who knows? Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar has the potential to be good. It might turn out to be a show many of you end up enjoying. But what I can be certain about is that whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make,” DiMartino said.
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
Bryan Koneitzko also added in a post on Instagram, “When Netflix brought me on board to run this series alongside Mike two years ago, they made a very public promise to support our vision. Unfortunately, there was no follow-through on that promise.”
He added, “Though I got to work with some great individuals, both on Netflix’s side and on our own small development team, the general handling of the project created what I felt was a negative and unsupportive environment.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Gordon Cormier as Aang in episode 101 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
He also declared, “To be clear, this was not a simple matter of us not getting our way. Mike and I are collaborative people; we did not need all of the ideas to come from us. As long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them.”
“However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series,” he said.
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The live-action adaptation for Avatar: The Last Airbender arrives on Netflix on February 22nd.
What do you make of Kim’s comments?
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Lemme guess, strong independent woman who needs no man? This is looking worse by the day.
This has Cowboy Be Bop written all over it.
I don’t get why this keeps getting remade. It’s now up to the viewer to decide if it’s worth watching.
Avatar Korra was an lgbt character. They made it that way because it was for an older audience. But Avatar Airbender was for all audiences. They can produce Avatar Korra instead if they wanted to go woke. This is a complete disappointment