Netflix renews Avatar: The Last Airbender for two seasons despite middling reviews

Fans and reviewers were critical of show’s CGI effects

Netflix has announced it has renewed Avatar: The Last Airbender for two more seasons.

Released on Netflix last month, the series is a remake of the children’s animation of the same name, which was previously adapted into a critically panned feature film by M Night Shyamlan.

Since its release, the series has climbed the rankings to be Netflix’s No 1 global TV series with more than 40m views. The streamer has now said it will be making two more seasons.

The Last Airbender follows Aang (played by Gordon Cormier), the young Avatar, as he learns to master the four elements – Water, Earth, Fire, Air – to restore balance to a world threatened by the Fire Nation.

The project is a reimagining of the Nickelodeon animated series that ran for three seasons starting in 2005. When the rebooted series debuted on Netflix, however, it divided critical opinion.

The remake was described by Variety as a “beautifully crafted disappointment”.

Some of the criticism has focused on the show’s use of CGI and green screen effects, as well as changes to the plot of the original.

Gordon Cormier as Aang in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender' (COURTESY OF NETFLIX)

“Overall if you have the chance to watch the original… just watch the original,” one person wrote on X/Twitter. “Avatar is a beautiful cartoon full of life lessons and an amazing cast of characters that’ll stay with you, if you want a watered down version with bad CGI then the remake is for you.”

Someone else wrote: “Watched all 8 eps and Netflix Avatar adaptation completely missed the mark for me.”

“Character development mostly ruined, storylines and lore butchered as they’re mixed together, messy pacing, 80% dialogue is exposition, no nuance to themes...”

Some viewers were left disappointed by the show’s use of CGI (Courtesy of Netflix)

“Live action Avatar has literally BUTCHERED this show,” another person remarked. “It wouldn’t be so bad if they kept the same storyline but noooooo.”

The Last Airbender executive producer and director Jabbar Raisani previously told Deadline said it had tried to make the series more “acceptable for a broader audience” than the original.

“We’re trying to make a show for the most viewers possible. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything we’re gonna leave behind from the animated series. There’s not more purposeful deviations in order to make it acceptable for a broader audience,” said Raisani.

“I think it’s really attempting to be as faithful as humanly possible to the animated series, but also knowing that we have to fit it into this eight-episode, driving narrative that keeps us streaming.”