Did you know Avatar: The Last Airbender originally started a little differently?
Nickelodeon recently released the original unaired pilot on Twitch as part of The Last Airbender: Origins series. Some fans may have previously seen this version of the pilot on ATLA DVD special features. However, this is the first time the unaired episode has been available to stream for free. You can watch it here.
What’s different about the original pilot?
Katara’s name
In the original pilot, Katara was called Kya. Ultimately, the series instead made Kya Katara and Sokka’s mother’s name. In Legends of Korra, Aang and Katara name their daughter Kya too.
Aang’s voice
Aang’s voice actor changed between the original pilot and the rest of the series. Future Hannah Montana star Mitchell Musso first voiced Aang. Zach Tyler Eisen replaced him.
The plot structure
The original pilot jumps into the action a bit sooner. The real first ATLA episode shows Katara and Sokka finding Aang frozen in ice. However, in the original pilot, the trio are already traveling together. (This episode also features Momo, who ends up getting introduced in episode 3 of the series.) A lot of the bending and plot beats covered in the original pilot ended up being recycled into later episodes. Watch for yourself and see which ones you can spot.
More Avatar news
It’s fun to see some new (ok, technically old) Avatar content. Lately, the fandom has been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. When the series started streaming on Netflix, ATLA saw a huge resurgence in popularity.
But then fans suffered a major disappointment when ATLA creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko announced they broke ties with Netflix.
DiMartino and Konietzko boarded Netflix’s live-action Last Airbender series back in 2018. But last week the creators announced they would leave the project, citing creative differences as the reason for the split. A discussion with Netflix representatives further revealed the details of these differences.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
