Avatar the Last Airbender | Official 'Creating the Creatures' Featurette | IGN Fan Fest 2024
Join members of the cast and crew of Avatar: The Last Airbender for a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming live-action reimagining of the Nickelodeon animated series. In this latest video, we get a look at the real-life inspirations and the creation of the creatures, like the flying bison Appa, Momo, and more. The Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series stars Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Ken Leung, with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Daniel Dae Kim.
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.
Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow, Nikita) serves as showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Jabbar Raisani (Lost in Space, Stranger Things) and Michael Goi are executive producers and directors alongside directors Roseanne Liang (also a co-executive producer) and Jet Wilkinson. Dan Lin (The Lego Movie, Aladdin) and Lindsey Liberatore (Walker) serve as executive producers from Rideback. Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres globally on Netflix on February 22, 2024.
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world. With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang (Gordon Cormier), a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka (Ian Ousley) and Katara (Kiawentiio), siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu) determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.
Albert Kim (Sleepy Hollow, Nikita) serves as showrunner, executive producer, and writer. Jabbar Raisani (Lost in Space, Stranger Things) and Michael Goi are executive producers and directors alongside directors Roseanne Liang (also a co-executive producer) and Jet Wilkinson. Dan Lin (The Lego Movie, Aladdin) and Lindsey Liberatore (Walker) serve as executive producers from Rideback. Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres globally on Netflix on February 22, 2024.
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TVTranscript
00:00 We could go another way.
00:01 You're not serious.
00:02 The creatures immerse you into the world that is Avatar.
00:07 There's no way you're getting me on that!
00:09 [screaming]
00:11 In the Avatar universe, almost all animals are hybrid creatures.
00:19 - Otter penguin. - Shark squids.
00:21 - Sky bison. - A winged lemur!
00:23 Magimal.
00:24 It's a fun detail that fans really love, that I really love.
00:28 So we started with imagery from the animated series and said,
00:31 "OK, what are real world representations of these visual ideas?"
00:35 And from there, built this library of visual information and language
00:39 that we would then use to inform the physical and the digital builds
00:43 of all the creatures.
00:44 - Appa! - Appa?
00:46 He is my best friend.
00:50 - Sorry, Katara. - Yep, yep!
00:51 On screen, Appa is a flying 10-ton bison.
00:56 Off screen, he is half back on a mechanical bull
01:00 controlled by people to make him seem like he's moving.
01:03 I've had some of my best days on Appa.
01:06 It feels like you're flying through the air, which is a childhood dream.
01:09 And action!
01:10 We tried to keep as much live action as possible.
01:13 One thing we wanted to stay true to is the silhouette of Appa as he's flying.
01:18 So we used a manatee for the tail
01:21 because of the way the manatee swims in the water.
01:24 And then also we looked at the buffalo for the eyes and for the horn.
01:29 And on set, we had a full-size Appa head, but it has no emotion to it.
01:34 Gordon did an amazing job just relating to this thing.
01:37 And our VFX team did an amazing job of bringing that emotion
01:41 to the character of Appa, so it matches with what Aang is doing in the scene.
01:45 You wanna join us, Momo?
01:49 Momo is our very cute winged lemur who loves food.
01:54 And has some great banter with Sokka.
01:56 Bet you taste like chicken.
01:58 One of the biggest challenges with Momo was taking this creature
02:02 that I love the animated version of and making it feel real.
02:05 So we referenced a lot of different lemurs and monkeys for performance
02:10 because we didn't want to lose all that personality.
02:12 We worked on his eye sizes
02:14 because it's all about how emotive Momo can be.
02:17 We have a little furry ball that we used for reference,
02:20 but the actors are acting with nothing else there
02:23 and Momo is completely created in the computer.
02:25 Badger Mole!
02:29 The Badger Mole, in our world, just a tennis ball,
02:31 but Gowen Neo and Ian did an amazing job.
02:34 For the Badger Mole, we wound up going over to the bear
02:39 because that would help us with the weight.
02:41 And also his mouth, because his mouth gets really close to camera.
02:44 And we really wanted to articulate his mouth to make sure it was believable,
02:48 even for the gradation in his teeth, which was really fun.
02:52 The Ostrich Horse on set is actually a stunt vehicle
02:56 and there's a stunt driver underneath our actors that are on top of a saddle.
03:00 Ostrich horses are ridiculously cool.
03:03 They have frenetic movements,
03:05 but then also when he's walking, he needs to be pristine,
03:07 but it needs to also have weight and feel heavy.
03:10 It's fun getting to see the world of the Avatar come to life.
03:17 I hope that fans will be super excited when they see it.
03:21 Like, "Oh my God, no way!"
03:22 That is one big birdie.
03:24 Audiences will love the characters, the emotional journey,
03:27 the storyline, the epic action, the humor.
03:30 Please tell me that he's saying, "Welcome, friends."
03:32 That's not what it's saying.
03:33 But I have a feeling they're gonna love Appa the most.
03:38 Or Momo.
03:40 One of the two. That's what they always say.
03:42 Don't worry, kid. You don't have to do this alone.
03:46 You have me, Tara, and a flying ball of fur.
03:52 What more do you need?
03:53 Really?
03:57 [laughing]
03:58 [music playing]
03:59 [music playing]
04:01 [music playing]
04:02 [music playing]
04:03 (dramatic music)
04:06 (dramatic music)