Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender was one of the platform’s best series last year. After the success of the One Piece live-action, audiences had their eyes on this project, and it was undeniably more than a success. The eighth episode of the Netflix adaptation perfectly covered the events of Book 1: Water. While the first season delivered, fans remained skeptical about the natural aging of the actors, especially Gordon Cormier, who plays the main protagonist, Aang. They feared that as he grew older, his portrayal would drift from how Aang appeared in the original animated series.
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Unfortunately, the teaser for the second season highlights this concern. In the events of Book 2, there is no time skip longer than a month, so Aang should not look much older than he did in Book 1. However, the Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 teaser, meant to adapt Book 2, makes Aang appear as though he has aged years rather than a few weeks. Considering that Netflix’s One Piece has a much longer narrative ahead, this issue will become even more noticeable for that series in the coming years.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Highlights the Biggest Flaw of Live-Action Adaptations
The aging problem is already evident in Avatar, within a season scheduled to be released just a year apart, as Gordon Cormier is in his teens. Since the human body changes the most during adolescence, he no longer resembles the version of Aang he portrayed in season 1. This was an issue fans knew would eventually surface, and there is little to do now except accept the change. Fortunately, a third and final season of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender has been confirmed, and while the age difference will remain noticeable, the series should conclude sooner rather than later.
However, this same issue will be far more significant for another ambitious live-action project: One Piece. The first season was released in 2023, and the second is set for 2026. With almost a three-year gap, the actors have naturally aged, and although it may not be as drastic as Aang’s actor, since most are older, the problem will escalate if Netflix intends to keep the adaptation going for many seasons. The characters in One Piece barely age in the story, with only a two-year gap in the middle of the narrative, which Netflix will not reach until at least season four or five.
This highlights that actor aging will become a major issue for the One Piece live-action in future seasons. Netflix may still be testing the series’ long-term popularity and producing seasons as they go before confronting this challenge. While the aging flaw seen in Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is already a problem, it is almost certain to cause even more problems for One Piece, though likely not for a couple more seasons.
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