‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and how to let your cast grow up
Animated characters don’t age. There’s a reason Ash Ketchum can stay 10 years old for over 25 years, and why iconic anime such as “One Piece” and “Naruto” can take up to several decades of development without much passage of time in their universes.
In live-action adaptations and productions, however, both cast members and their fans are constantly racing against time. “Stranger Things,” the hit Netflix series which first released in 2016, has taken nearly a decade to reach its highly anticipated conclusion. In that time, we’ve all watched the show’s main cast become grown adults—from Millie Bobby Brown becoming a Bongiovi to Gaten Matarazzo slowly growing out of his baby face.
Even “Wednesday,” which first premiered in 2022 took three years before its second season. Luckily, Jenna Ortega didn’t look like she aged much, but Isaac Ordonez, who plays Pugsley Addams, had quite a growth spurt.
The case of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”
Netflix’s “Avatar” live-action adaptation—which initially drew audience doubt because of M. Night Shyamalan’s failed “The Last Airbender”—exceeded these early expectations and became one of the platform’s most awaited titles since its release in 2024.
With its second season coming in 2026, and with early images of Aang looking all grown up, fans of the show were concerned—and rightfully so, if this was going to be another case of “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday.”
Forget viewer immersion and how awkward it’d be to watch Gordon Cormier play the part of a supposed 12-year-old—it wouldn’t even make sense narratively as the events of the animated “Avatar: The Last Airbender” originally took place over the course of a whole year.
But rather than proceed without acknowledging the difference in age, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” slightly tweaked the original story, allowing the scheduling limitations in real life to coexist with the show’s natural plot progression.
In the original animated series, Sozin’s Comet, the celestial object capable of strengthening all fire benders, was the weapon that would allow the Fire Nation to completely dominate over the rest of the world. This set a deadline for Aang, which only allowed him about a year’s time to master the four elements before the comet arrived. In the Netflix live adaptation, Fire Lord Ozai did not give an exact date for its arrival—a small omission allowing Aang and the rest of the gang more time than they originally did.
Even with their production schedule, rather than shooting after the end of each season, the show instead wrapped up production for both seasons two and three at the same time. Though, we’d have to take into account the warm reception for season one that likely gave the showrunners enough confidence to already shoot the show’s ending long before a second season even came out.
But nonetheless, this prevents any situations where we’ll see 20-year-olds masquerading in characters supposedly in their early teens. This isn’t “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday” after all.
