A new Avatar: The Last Airbender comic series has been announced, and it’s so close to being the spinoff we’ve been hoping for. Avatar Studios has a number of Last Airbender spinoffs in the pipeline, including The Legend of Aang movie, which comes out later this year, and the Avatar: Seven Havens sequel series. It’s about time the franchise expands on-screen beyond The Legend of Korra. There’s so much potential baked into the Nickelodeon show’s world that it’d be a waste to ignore it.
And Avatar Studios has room to expand on existing characters and storylines, as well brand-new ones. With its earliest projects, it appears to be going for a mix of the two. It has yet to pursue one of the most obvious choices for a spinoff show, however, despite having the perfect foundation for it. A new project approved by creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko serves as a reminder of how frustrating this is.
Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Newly Announced Spinoff Is About the Kyoshi Warriors
A new Avatar: The Last Airbender story from Dark Horse Comics will see the franchise revisiting the Kyoshi Warriors. Fans will remember the group from their efforts to help Team Avatar in the original Nickelodeon show. Suki gets most of the attention throughout the series, but with Avatar: The Last Airbender – Kyoshi Warriors, we’ll get to know the rest of the group a little better. The three-issue run is written by Brandon Hoang and illustrated by BellBessa, and the first installment will arrive in May.
The new comic will follow Suki and her fellow warriors as they fight the Fire Nation during the timeline of The Last Airbender. Despite knowing what becomes of them, it’s a fun addition to the franchise — particularly if you’re like me and want to see more of the kickass group. However, though this prospect is exciting, it raises familiar frustrations. While DiMartino and Konietzko are thinking about ways to expand The Last Airbender universe, I wish they’d consider a show centered on the Avatar the warriors are named for.
The Last Airbender Needs to Give Us a Prequel Show About Avatar Kyoshi Already
Obviously, a lot more goes into green-lighting a Last Airbender TV show than a spinoff comic. However, any mention of the Kyoshi Warriors or the Avatar they’re inspired by brings up one of my biggest frustrations: that a Kyoshi TV series isn’t in the works. Although there have been rumors of one happening, there’s nothing official. And that’s a shame, as Kyoshi is one of the coolest characters from the entire franchise — and we simply don’t see enough of her during Aang’s story.
What we do see through her interactions with Aang highlights how powerful and no-nonsense she is in her approach to her Avatar duties, though. And it raises the intriguing question of how she got there. Kyoshi’s appearances are enough to make her a fan-favorite in The Last Airbender fandom. However, they don’t tell us much about her as a person. That’s precisely why a TV series based on the former Avatar should be a priority for Avatar Studios, just as much as anything else on the docket. There’s even an already-written story that the studio can tap into if it needs material.
Avatar Studios Already Has the Perfect Foundation for a Kyoshi Spinoff
To be fair to the Last Airbender franchise, Kyoshi does have a prequel duology that digs into her character deeper — but the books’ existence make her lack of a TV spinoff that much more baffling. Avatar Studios doesn’t even need a wholly originally concept to give the Earth Avatar her flowers; it only has to adapt The Rise of Kyoshi and The Shadow of Kyoshi. (I wouldn’t complain if it adapted the other Chronicles of the Avatar books, either…)
These books follow a younger Kyoshi, but at the very least, they’re a jumping-off point for any TV series centered on the character. Avatar: The Last Airbender provides enough context for the creators to bridge the gap from there. Given how beloved Kyoshi is, it’s a spinoff that I hope is on their radar. However, whether more prequels happen will likely depend on the success of already-confirmed shows and films Avatar Studios is working on.
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