The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is an upcoming American animated fantasy film directed by Lauren Montgomery. It serves as the continuation/direct sequel of the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) and the first production of Avatar Studios. The film stars the voices of Eric Nam, Dionne Quan, Jessica Matten, Román Zaragoza, Steven Yeun, Dave Bautista, Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Freida Pinto, and Ke Huy Quan, and will follow the series' main cast in their young adult years.
The film was announced in February 2021, along with the formation of Avatar Studios, a new division of Nickelodeon dedicated to the creation of projects set in the universe of the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise. By June 2022, Montgomery was attached as director. Principal cast members were announced in the following years, with the main voice roles from the series being mostly recast in respect to character ethnic and racial backgrounds. The animation was provided by Flying Bark Productions and Studio Mir, and combines 2D hand-drawn animated characters with 3D computer-animated environments.
Originally slated to be theatrically released, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is scheduled to be released on the streaming service Paramount+ in 2026.
Taking place after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender and before The Legend of Korra, the film will follow Aang, the world's last Airbender, as he learns of an ancient power that could save his culture from extinction. With the help of his friends, he embarks on a global quest to find it before it falls into the wrong hands and threatens to upend the peace they sacrificed everything to achieve.[1][2][3]
- Eric Nam as Aang[4]
- Dionne Quan as Toph Beifong[4]
- Jessica Matten as Katara[4]
- Román Zaragoza as Sokka[4]
- Steven Yeun as Zuko[5]
- Dave Bautista as the film's villain[4]
Other cast members for the film include Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Freida Pinto, Ke Huy Quan, Peta Sergeant and Dee Bradley Baker in undisclosed roles.[6]
In 2018, Netflix announced that a live-action remake of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005-2008) was to start production in 2019.[7][8] The series' original creators, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, were initially announced to be the executive producers and showrunners.[9][10] In June 2020, the creators departed the series due to creative differences.[11] That same year, Nickelodeon licensed the original The Last Airbender as well as The Legend of Korra (2012-14) to Netflix, which led to a boom in popularity for both series. This success convinced Nickelodeon to rekindle their relationship with Konietzko and DiMartino and explore further opportunities.[12][13]
In February 2021, ViacomCBS announced during its annual Investor Day the formation of Avatar Studios, a new division of Nickelodeon dedicated to the creation of projects based on animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The series creators and executive producers Konietzko and DiMartino would serve as co-chief creative officers. It was also announced that the first project of the studio is an animated theatrical film that would begin production later in 2021.[14][15] Original series executive producer Eric Coleman takes executive producer credit, with Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino, Latifa Ouaou, and Maryann Garger as the film's producers.[16][4][17]
In June 2022, it was announced that Lauren Montgomery, who was a storyboard artist on the original series and a supervising producer for Korra, would serve as director.[18] In July 2022, Janet Varney, the voice of Korra, revealed that the plot of the film would revolve around the original series' characters.[19][20] A sneak peek of the film was revealed at Paramount Pictures' CinemaCon presentation in April 2023, confirming that the film would follow the characters in their young adulthood.[1][2] In April 2024, it was reported that William Mata would serve as co-director, alongside Montgomery.[16] In April 2025, the title of the film was announced as The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender.[21]
At CinemaCon in April 2024, Paramount announced the casting of Eric Nam as Aang, Dionne Quan as Toph Beifong, Jessica Matten as Katara, Román Zaragoza as Sokka, and Dave Bautista as the antagonist.[4][16] In March 2025, Variety reported that Steven Yeun, who had previously voiced Avatar Wan in The Legend of Korra, joined the cast in an undisclosed role;[17] he was later confirmed to be Zuko four months later.[5] Later that December, Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Freida Pinto, Ke Huy Quan, Peta Sergeant, and Dee Bradley Baker were announced to join the film.[6]
According to the film's casting director, Jenny Jue, the decision to recast the principal characters was on behalf of DiMartino and Konietzko. This direction was influenced by the increased emphasis on matching voice actors' ethnic and racial backgrounds to those of the characters they portray, a topic that arose in the industry in the years since the conclusion of the original series. Jue said, "ATLA is a fictional world, but there are cultural influences for each nation/kingdom, and we wanted to explore the talent from those groups".[22][23] Mae Whitman, the original voice actress for Katara, confirmed in May 2023 that she will not be reprising the role. She remarked that despite cherishing her experience, Whitman was excited to see "actors come in, who honestly fit the role much better".[24]
In October 2022, it was reported that Flying Bark Productions in Sydney, Australia, would primarily provide the animation for the film.[25] In May 2025, it was reported that Studio Mir in Seoul, South Korea, which previously provided animation for The Legend of Korra, would also provide additional animation support for the film.[26] The animation style used in the feature combines 2D hand-drawn animated characters with 3D computer-animated environments, courtesy of Deep Canvas technology.[27][25] Deep Canvas and this hybrid style of animation production was pioneered at Walt Disney Animation Studios (CAPS), and had extensively been used in titles such as Tarzan (1999) and Treasure Planet (2002).[28]
The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is set for release on Paramount+.[6] It was originally set to be released theatrically on October 9, 2026, by Paramount Pictures.[29] The film was previously expected to release on October 10, 2025, then was delayed to January 30, 2026, and then was delayed again to October 9, 2026, before the theatrical release was cancelled and moved to Paramount+.[30][31][29] According to Animation Magazine, "unspecified delays in physical animation production" led to the second release date push.[32]
- The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender at IMDb
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