Just when you thought everything about Paramount, CBS, and the regime change led by Skydance’s David Ellison was totally cool and chill, the corporate-strategy drops on Avatar: The Last Airbender. I can’t play this cool — I am deeply saddened to report that the upcoming feature film The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender will skip its planned theatrical run and land straight on streaming in 2026. Christmas is (mildly) ruined.
All the way back in 2021, Viacom, then the owners of Paramount, announced the formation of Avatar Studios to initiate a slew of stories set in the Avatar universe. Chief among them: a new movie starring Aang and the Aang Gang. The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender was delayed again and again over the years, even as the studio made progress, with Steven Yeun and Dave Bautista eventually announced as leading the cast. Still, updates have been few and far between — an entirely new Avatar series, Safe Havens, was revealed since the first announcement of The Legend of Aang. I guess fans of the franchise should be glad that the movie has not been outright killed, but according to a news release from Paramount on Tuesday, the theatrical release plans for the film The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender have been entirely scrapped.
Boo, hiss, etc. A dash of fun news came out of the big-screen death knell; Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Freida Pinto, and Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan will all voice characters in the movie. But now it’s straight-to-streaming on Paramount Plus, to be packaged as a lead-in to the debut of Safe Havens.
I know I should be grateful that Paramount isn’t completely burying the movie and taking a tax write-off. (RIP, Batgirl.) Avatar fans are eating well — on top of the new series and film, there are new video games and gorgeous Magic: The Gathering cards, plus second and third seasons of Netflix’s live-action show for whoever enjoys that. But I wanted to see my boy Aang on the big screen. I wanted to see this franchise get its redemption arc after the M. Night Shyamalan movie, to be as big as SpongeBob SquarePants as a cross-medium titan.
No dice. Like Amon stealing the bending powers away from Korra, the power of The Legend of Aang has been stripped away and reduced to #content. Unfortunately, I don’t think the soulpatched Avatar can step in to save the day like last time.
The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender will premiere on Paramount Plus in fall 2026.
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