Giancarlo Volpe, who directed 19 episodes of Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” recently mentioned why the hit show needed to add “The Last Airbender” to its title.
The Italian American animator took to Twitter on Sunday to discuss the name change.
“In 2004 we learned that we had to change the name of our show from Avatar to Avatar: The Last Airbender because James Cameron already had the rights to a movie called Avatar,” Volpe wrote in his tweet, which has already garnered over 260,000 likes.
“Now the sequel is called The Way of Water. If part 3 is called The Firebending Masters we riot,” he continued.
Subscribe to
NextShark's Newsletter
A daily dose of Asian America's essential stories, in under 5 minutes.
Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories to your inbox daily for free.
Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive.
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” premiered on Nickelodeon on Feb. 21, 2005. James Cameron’s “Avatar” was first released on Dec. 10, 2009, in London.
Both franchises will be making a comeback in the next few years – an untitled “Avatar: The Last Airbender” movie is scheduled for an October 2025 release, while Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” will premiere in London on Dec. 6 before making its U.S. premiere on Dec. 16.
Related stories:
Featured Image via Avatar: The Last Airbender
