No One’s Watching Netflix’s Latest Live-Action Remake

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 30 seconds ago

Netflix’s latest Q2 earning results came with some shocking news for not only investors, but everyone with even a passing interest in the media landscape. The world’s largest streaming platform admitted that most viewers stop watching after the first season. Doesn’t matter the show, on average, they lose 58 percent of the audience. For Avatar: The Last Airbender, that number was 59 percent for the first episode of Season 2, a huge drop from the series debut of 21 million views. If social media reactions are anything to go by, fans of the franchise aren’t bothering to finish the season. And for good reason.

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Is A Drunken Retelling Of The Original

Avatar: The Last Airbender isn’t actually an anime, it was an anime-inspired cartoon that ran on Nickelodeon for three seasons and became a generation’s Star Wars. Which is why the live-action series has more in common with the recollections of a drunken 34-year-old Naruto cosplayer who heard about the series from their friend but never bothered to check it out. “And then the Fire Nation attacked, and there was this giant pig, and I think the bald kid hooked up with some chick.” 

The first season included a huge exposition dump at the top that revealed what happened prior to the start of the series. In the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, unraveling the history of the Avatar is a large part of the story. Season 2 decided to make the same mistake by showcasing the Fire Lord, which again, was a much later reveal that had a lot of character beats and emotion wrapped up in it. Here, it’s a guy in a costume. 

The Fans Have Gone Elsewhere

One Piece live-action works thanks to the close involvement of the manga’s creator, Oda, and a production team making changes that stick to the spirit of the source material. Avatar: The Last Airbender is moving locations around, re-adjusting the entire timeline of the story, discarding character motivations (animated Zuko would kill live-action Zuko), Either fully adapt the existing story, or go hog wild and change everything, but this odd half and half approach is alienating everyone. 

Despite the low viewership numbers, Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 debuted in Netflix’s top ten series. Two weeks later, it’s at number ten, and in a few days, will be forgotten. Season 3 was filmed at the same time as Season 2 though that’s no guarantee that the streamer will let it see the light of day. Netflix has been having significant retention issues with viewers due to all of the early cancelations, but in this case, it would be a mercy for the suffering fanbase. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender fans are instead looking forward to Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender which picks up the story 13 years after the end of the series. The team is order, hopefully wiser, and the animation looks to be top notch, crafted with love and care to fit seamlessly alongside the original, and The Legend of Korra. Netflix can keep trying with their live-action adaptation, but with multiple series, and new entries in the franchise on the way, the fanbase has already moved on.