Around three minutes of footage from the Paramount Plus animated movie Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender has leaked online months ahead of its release. As the project has mostly been shrouded in mystery, this leak offers our first real look at its beautiful animation, new voice cast, and high-level plot details.
Don’t read on if you want to avoid spoilers for the film.
X user ImStillDissin first posted the two clips of Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender early on April 12, claiming, “Nickelodeon accidentally emailed me the entire Avatar aang [sic.] movie.” The first clip shows the Team Avatar together as they heal an ancient Airbender who was trapped in ice, like Aang was. The second seems to be from later in the movie, as the ancient Airbender tries to pull a temple from the Spirit World into Team Avatar’s world. Alternate versions of the Team Avatar characters and a Spirit World creature voiced by Taika Waititi appear as a result.
Later, ImStillDissin posted an image from the film’s credits, revealing previously unknown roles and cast members. That includes Ke Huy Quan as Avatar Xian and Ken Jeong as the infamous Cabbage Merchant. These credits also reveal that the ancient Airbender is voiced by Dave Bautista and named Tagah, while Taika Waititi’s Spirit World creature is called a Gorillavark.
I watched the leaked footage and don’t believe it was faked. The animation is incredibly detailed, and the voices match previously confirmed casting announcements. Although the celebrity voice-filled cast takes some getting used to, I thought the 2D animation looked fantastic, and I can’t wait to watch the entire movie.
Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender has been a long time coming. It was first teased in 2021 when Avatar Studios was formed, but it got delayed several times. Production on the film wrapped in March, and it’s now slated to launch on Paramount Plus this fall after Paramount decided not to give it a full theatrical release.
It’s definitely disappointing that this footage leaked early and ruined some of the film’s surprises for fans who had been waiting for so long. Still, it’s all opt-in — beware of your socials if you’re a regular Avatarhead.
Paramount has not commented on the leak at this time.
