The showrunner for Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender has discussed rewriting one of the characters to be less “sexist” than his original portrayal.
Avatar: The Last Airbender originally aired as an animated series on Nickelodeon in the early 2000s. Now that the show has been rebooted as a live-action series on Netflix, showrunners have discussed tweaking one of the characters’ attitudes toward women.
Albert Kim told IGN: The character “Sokka” has not been “translated” into a live-action adaptation. “Sokka” was primarily used as comedic relief on the show. This character frequently commented on her gender role, especially regarding her sister Kitara in the story, as she was expected to follow certain customs of the community, such as doing household chores.
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The showrunner for Netflix’s live-action version of “Avatar: The Last Airbender” has discussed rewriting one of its characters to be less “sexist” than how the character was portrayed in the original. (Photo illustration: Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
“There are some roles that we think Katara played in the comics, but we didn’t necessarily play them here,” Kim said. “So, I don’t want to get too deep into it, but there are some gender issues that didn’t really come through in the comics.”
“Netflix wanted to prevent him from coming across as completely unlikable,” he added. “Well, that’s why we had to protect ourselves from things like that.”
He continued, “So they don’t really change the characters as much as they update them a little bit. And in terms of the plot, yeah, what we thought in the writers’ room. There were a lot of them, and we said, ‘These are the mileposts we’re going to get to.’ … We knew where the big story would begin and end.”
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Cosplayers dressed as characters from “Avatar: The Last Airbender” are seen at WonderCon 2023 held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on March 26, 2023. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
In an interview with entertainment weeklyactor Ian Owsley, who plays Sokka, and actress Kiawentio Tarbell, who plays Katara, discussed how expectations for the characters’ gender roles have changed.
“I feel like they also removed the sexist elements.” [Sokka] was. “I feel like the original show had a lot of ambiguous moments,” Chiaventio said.
“Yes, that’s absolutely true,” Mr. Owsley added. “There are some things that were redirected just because they might behave a little differently [in live action]. ”
Owsley says the showrunners’ direction is to focus on Sokka’s struggle with his father’s absence.
“Maybe he’s trying to figure out what it means to not have a father, to be a leader when he’s not good enough,” Owsley said.
Showrunner Albert Kim said Netflix “wanted to be wary” that the character was “totally unlikable.” ((Photo illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images))
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The original creator of the animated series is not involved in the live-action reboot.
