The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender Comments on Recent Movie Change

Earlier this month, fans were heartbroken to learn that The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender was foregoing its theatrical release to become a streaming exclusive on Paramount+. In response to the change, a campaign was started in the hope of convincing the studio to bring back adult Aang to the silver screen. Initially, a comment was left as a part of the campaign that many believed was from the movie’s co-director Steve Ahn. The director himself both shot down the comment that was associated with him while also sharing his thoughts on the campaign itself, which, as of the writing of this article, has over eighteen thousand signatures.

Steve Ahn shared a post on his social media account, stating that while he appreciated the Change.org campaign, he was not the one who had posted using his name, “I am truly grateful for the passion shown in the Avatar petition. However, I must clarify that someone has impersonated me and left a misleading comment. I am not the author of that post, and I hope this official clarification prevents any further rumors or false speculation. As the post mentioned ‘continuing to share’ in the future, I felt it necessary to clarify this to prevent further issues. I sincerely hope the dedicated artists of this film are not unfairly criticized or put in a difficult position due to such unauthorized comments.”

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The Comment That Started it All

The original comment left on the petition was attributed to Steve Ahn, but clearly was not from the director himself. The statement read, “Worked on this film, first leading one of the teams, and eventually directing. Very frustrated about studio ‘higher up’s” decisions. There were A LOT of frustrating, unfair moves by them throughout the entire production that I want to share in the future, but, first, bring this back to theater immediately!!”

While fans are certainly making their voices heard when it comes to the big change, other animators in the field are sharing their dissatisfaction with Paramount. Animator Tom Barkel, who has a resume including popular series like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Owl House, was none to pleased to learn the news, especially since he was also an animator on The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, “Regarding The Legend of Aang going straight to streaming: I’m devastated. As both a massive fan and an artist on the movie, it’s heartbreaking. Everything I’ve seen from this film has been absolutely gorgeous; it really was made to be seen on the big screen.”

To date, while the big change is rippling through the bending community, the upcoming Paramount production is still set to arrive next October. Joining the new cast of actors portraying Aang and his friends, Paramount also announced that the following actors are joining the cast: Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Dee Bradley Baker, Peta Sergeant, Freida Pinto, and Ke Huy Quan.

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