Albert Kim, the showrunner for Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, who helmed the first season of the series after the original creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko exited the show in 2020, will not be returning for the series’ second season.
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Gordon Cormier as Aang in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2023
The Hollywood Reporter’s Lesley Goldberg reports that co-executive producer Christine Boylan and executive producer Jabbar Raisani are taking over the show from Kim.
Goldberg writes, “Sources say Kim’s intention was to lay the foundation for season one of Avatar: The Last Airbender after stepping in for the beloved franchise’s creators.”
She added, “Sources say Kim was ready to move on to new opportunities.”
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
Interestingly, one of those new opportunities will be for Netflix’s competitor The Walt Disney Company and its Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He will be an executive producer on the show alongside Jon Steinberg, Dan Shotz, and Craig Silverstein.
He will also reportedly develop new projects for Disney as well.
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ken Leung as Zhao in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
Netflix previously announced last week that Boylan and Raisani would take over leadership duties as Executive Producers for both a second and third season of the show. They also detailed that Kim would still serve as an Executive Producer on the two seasons despite no longer being directly involved with the show.
Netflix had also previously announced that the series would get a second and third season back in March. A press release stated, “Fans across the globe have embraced Avatar: The Last Airbender, leading to a two-season renewal. The live-action reimagining of the beloved animated series follows Aang, the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements (Water, Earth, Fire, Air) to restore balance to a world threatened by the terrifying Fire Nation.”
It added, “Since the show’s Netflix debut on February 22, Avatar: The Last Airbender has reigned as the top English TV show with 41.1M views in just the first 11 days. The series ranked No. 1 in 76 countries and in the top 10 in 92.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender. Daniel Dae Kim as Ozai in season 1 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Cr. Robert Falconer/Netflix © 2023
As noted by that press release, Avatar: The Last Airbender debuted as the most viewed English TV show on Netflix the week it arrived on the streamer. It racked up 153.4 million hours viewed and a total of 21.2 million views.
It remained atop the charts in its second week racking up another 144.2 million hours viewed and 19.9 million views. By its third week the show saw significant decline. It fell to second being best by The Gentlemen: Season 1. It only racked up 65.7 million hours viewed and 9.1 million views. It remained in second in its fourth week with 37.5 million hours viewed and 5.2 million views.
By the middle of March it fell to fourth on the charts with 24.6 million hours viewed and 3.4 million views. Most recently in its sixth week at the end of March it sits at 5th on the charts with 17.2 million hours viewed and 2.4 million views.
So far it’s racked up 61.2 million views and 442.6 million hours viewed.
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
READ: Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Receives Paltry Critic And Audience Scores
The show has middling viewer scores. On IMDb it has a 7.2 rating from over 64,000 users.
Avatar: The Last Airbender IMDb scores
On Rotten Tomatoes it received a similar 73% audience score.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Rotten Tomatoes scores
What do you make of Albert Kim leaving Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender for Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians?
