5 Exciting Stories Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Sets Up for the Third and Final Season

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender may mash together the events of the original series and change how they unfold, but it tends to cover them in some capacity — Aang’s inner struggle in “The Guru” and a few other moments excluded. That means we can probably expect Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3 to work Book 3’s biggest developments into its run. And the latest episodes lay the groundwork for several of them, teasing these narratives before they can officially unfold.

Considering the changes the Netflix adaptation makes to the original, these scenes may look a little different in live-action. Wan Shi Tong’s Library is a prime example of the series taking incidents and concepts from the original show and making them its own. Even so, these moments need to happen in some form. After all, they’re foreshadowed in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2.

5) Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Hints at Katara’s Bloodbending Story

One of Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s darkest Book 3 storylines happens in “The Puppetmaster,” which introduces fans to the concept of bloodbending — an offshoot of waterbending that an elderly woman uses to get revenge on the Fire Nation. Hama pushes Katara to learn this skill, too, eventually threatening her friends and forcing her into it. It’s a grim narrative, and Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is already teasing it.

The newest episodes put a heavy emphasis on Katara’s healing abilities, and a couple of scenes specifically reference her manipulating blood. There’s the premiere, during which she tells Aang that healing the sea serpent involves feeling the energy flowing into its blood. There’s also a moment later in the season when she tries to bend venom out of a child’s body. It’s no coincidence that Netflix’s adaptation keeps connecting Katara’s waterbending to the body, and specifically, blood. We’ll be seeing her bloodbend soon enough, and it could be even darker than in the original show.

4) The Day of Black Sun Invasion Has to Happen in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3

The biggest and most obvious Season 3 story set up in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is the Day of Black Sun invasion. The series features an altered version of the Gaang’s visit to Wan Shi Tong’s Library, where they learn the same thing they do in the original show: that the Fire Nation will essentially be powerless during the coming solar eclipse. It’s enough to get them chased out of the library — and for Wan Shi Tong to kill Jet — so, clearly, it’s just as important here as it is in the first iteration of this story.

Although Team Avatar’s initial attack on the Fire Nation doesn’t work out as planned, it’s a major part of Book 3. Therefore, it’s no surprise the Netflix series is planning on adapting it in its final season. It’ll make a great action piece, just as it does in the original show. And with Season 2 leaving the group as they fly off on Appa, there’s a good chance Season 3 will open with them reunited with Sokka and Katara’s dad and planning for the big day.

3) We’re Probably Getting Some Version of the Boiling Rock Breakout in Season 3

Suki gets a few moments to shine in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2, but she disappears after facing Mai, Ty Lee, and Azula. The series doesn’t show the outcome of this fight, but given the trio’s stolen Kyoshi Warrior attire, it doesn’t really need to. They obviously win, enabling them to impersonate the girls without much resistance. The real question is what becomes of Suki and her friends afterward. If the adaptation follows the original series, the Kyoshi Warriors should be imprisoned in Capital City Prison, while Suki is locked away in the high-security Boiling Rock Prison.

If the latter proves true in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, it means we’re getting some version of the Boiling Rock escape in Season 3. It’s an iconic sequence from Book 3, and it contains a lot of great character moments throughout. With the eclipse-day invasion and Sozin’s Comet, though, I wonder if the prison break will be worked into another storyline. Whatever happens, Season 2 leaves Suki in the Fire Nation’s clutches and likely in need of help. It bodes well for Sokka and Zuko coming to her aid in Season 3.

2) Prince Zuko’s Redemption Is Fully Set Up in Season 2

In addition to the Day of Black Sun invasion, another obvious story set up in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is Zuko’s redemption. It’s one of the most highly praised parts of the original series, so the live-action show can’t avoid adapting it. It’s also crucial to Aang fully becoming the Avatar, as it’s how he learns firebending. And Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 fully establishes Zuko as a character capable of redemption — one who wants it, even. He may go back on his growth in the finale, but before that, he demonstrates the good inside him on multiple occasions. (We’ll ignore the odd addition of him robbing a pregnant woman…)

His actions throughout Season 2, as well as his fever storyline and heart-to-heart with Katara, set the stage for Zuko to embrace his better instincts come Season 3. He’s also headed back to the Fire Nation, where he’ll likely learn the truth about his family history and confront Ozai. The pieces are in place for Zuko’s turnaround, so fans only need to wait.

1) Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2’s Finale Sets Up Aang’s Season 3 Struggle

Avatar: The Last Airbender makes a major change by having Aang enter and control the Avatar State in its Season 2 finale. However, his fight with Azula sets up his biggest Season 3 conflict ahead of time. When Aang is in the Avatar State, he nearly defeats Azula. He has enough of an upper hand that he could kill her if he wanted to. Yet, true to his pacifist nature, Aang spares the Fire Nation princess. It backfires, but it shows that Aang prioritizes compassion and mercy over all else. And that’s the perfect lead-in to Season 3, as Aang will face a similar predicament with Fire Lord Ozai.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 3 sees Aang struggling with the notion of killing Ozai, despite everyone insisting he must. It seems like the only way to end the Fire Nation’s oppression, but Aang desperately tries to find another way. Season 2 foreshadows this by having Aang refuse to kill another irredeemable character. It’s one of the few positives to come from the finale’s changes.

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All 7 Episodes of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2, Ranked