Netflix's live-action 'Last Airbender' showrunner explains rewriting character to be less 'sexist'

close

Video

Prince Harry's Netflix documentary is seen as 'fluff and nonsense': Neil Sean

U.K. royal reporter Neil Sean dives into Prince Harry's allegations against Prince William, the royal family and staff in the Netflix documentary on 'The Story.'

Netflix’s live-action "Avatar: The Last Airbender" showrunner discussed rewriting one of its characters to be less "sexist" than the character’s portrayal in the source material.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" originally aired as an animated series on Nickelodeon in the early 2000s. Now that the show is being rebooted as a live-action series on Netflix, the showrunner discussed tweaking one of the character’s attitudes towards women.

Albert Kim told IGN that the character "Sokka" did not "translate" to the live-action adaption. "Sokka" was mostly used for comedic relief in the show. The character frequently made comments on gender roles, especially about his sister Kitara in the story, as she was expected to conform to certain customs of their community, like doing domestic chores.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG SLAMS CRITICS CRYING FOUL OVER GRETA GERWIG OSCAR 'SNUB': 'NOT EVERYBODY GETS A PRIZE'

Netflix’s live-action "Avatar: The Last Airbender" show-runner discussed rewriting one of its characters to be less "sexist" than the character’s portrayal in the source material. (Photo Illustration by Idrees Abbas/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"There are certain roles I think that Katara did in the cartoon that we didn't necessarily also do here," Kim said. "I mean, I don't want to really get into a lot of that, but some gender issues that didn't quite translate from the cartoon."

"Netflix wanted to guard against him being perceived as outright unlikable," he added. "Yeah. So we had to guard against that kind of stuff." 

He continued, "And so, those are things that aren't really changing a character as so much as updating them a little bit. And in terms of plot points, yeah, there was a lot of things that we, in the writer's room, we put down, 'These are the mileposts that we're going to hit'...We knew where the big story would begin and end."

NEW PETER PAN BROADWAY MUSICAL TO MAKE MAJOR CHANGES, EXAMINE MISOGYNY AND 'BIG STAIN' ON NATIVE CULTURE

Cosplayers dressed as characters from "Avatar: The Last Airbender" are seen at WonderCon 2023 at Anaheim Convention Center on March 26, 2023, in Anaheim, California.  (Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor Ian Ousley, who plays Sokka, and actress Kiawentiio Tarbell, who plays Katara, discussed how the characters’ expectations of gender roles were changed.

"I feel like we also took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy," Kiawentiio said.

"Yeah, totally," Ousley added. "There are things that were redirected just because it might play a little differently [in live action]."

According to Ousley, focusing on Sokka's struggle with the absence of his father is the direction the showrunners are taking.

"He’s dealing with what it means to not have his father and try to maybe lead when you're not fully capable," Ousley said.

Showrunner Albert Kim said Netflix "wanted to guard against" the character being "outright unlikable." (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The original creators of the animated series are not a part of the live-action reboot.