AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER Showrunner Albert Kim Exits Live-Action Series
Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series has gone through some big changes in leadership as showrunner Albert Kim exits the show.
Kim served as writer, showrunner, and executive producer of Season 1, but will not return for the final two seasons. He will be replaced by Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani, who will be co-showrunners on the series and executive produce.
Boylan previously served as co-executive producer on Season 1, while Raisani was an executive producer, director, and a VFX supervisor. Kim will remain onboard as an executive producer for Seasons 2 and 3.
According to the report, “Kim wanted to explore new opportunities following the multi-year development process on Last Airbender and has signed a deal with Disney to work as an executive producer on the Percy Jackson series while also developing new projects for that company.”
I personally didn’t care for the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender and I don’t think Kim was the right person for the job to develop it. Netflix should’ve put their trust in the original series creators over Kim and his team.
Regardless, what’s done is done, but maybe Boylan and Raisani will do a better job with the next two seasons. Boylan also previously worked on the hit Peacock series Poker Face as well as the Netflix-Marvel series The Punisher.
As for Raisani, he has done VFX work on shows like Lost in Space and Stranger Things for Netflix as well as Game of Thrones and The Flash, and more.
Set in an Asiatic, war-torn world “where certain people can ‘bend’ one of the four classical elements: water, earth, fire, or air. Aang is the Avatar, the only one capable of bending all the elements, and is destined to bring peace to the world from the Fire Nation.”
With his new companions “Katara (Kiawentiio Tarbell ) and Sokka (Ian Ousley), Aang sets out to master the elements while being pursued by the exiled Fire Nation prince Zuko (Daniel Dae Kim), who seeks to regain his honor by capturing the Avatar.”
Source: Variety