Lot's of Awesome news here, so read through the entire thing! We just got some seriously Way exciting news for Avatar The Last Airbender Fans, Series Creators have said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that they would like to "tap into the Avatar world", Bryan Konietzko had this to say about the series.
-We have a lot of ideas for the ‘Avatar' universe and who knows? We could be tapping into them for years to come," - Bryan Konietzko
Other Great News It Appears that Korra is certainly not going to be the end of stories in the Avatar universe!
Nickelodeon had picked up -Korra" for 12 episodes but recently decided to order 14 more shows. - Wall Street Journal Reports
So 14 more shows! I would say that's pretty awesome for sure, i'm not 100% sure if this will be set in the Korra timeline or not because Bryan Konietzko said this about plans for the universe:
-When we first starting talking to Nickelodeon about doing a new series in the ‘Avatar' world, they asked if we could do shorter arcs—more like a show like ‘24' where there's a specific villain or challenge for that particular season," Konietzko says. -We're really happy with that number. It allows us to focus much more closely on each episode and get a lot more craft into it."
[caption id="attachment_3506" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Things are looking up for a lot more stories from the Avatar Universe in the future!"]More Seasons in the Avatar Universe[/caption] So sounds like they haven't fully finalized plans but things are certainly looking up for a lot more avatar seasons Progress on the new series Things are progressing well for Korra now set for a 2012 release date (changed from late 2011), Michael DiMartino had this to say about progress on Korra:
The Wall Street Journal: How far along are you on the new series? "We are in the midst of the first twelve episodes. We've written all the episodes. Episodes have shipped to the overseas animations studios and they're animating away as we speak. So we're kind of in the middle of things right nowAll the vocal cast has been picked and recorded and all the scripts have been recorded." - Michael DiMartino
Future Avatar Episodes will be more sophisticated, appeal to a broader range of viewers, the tone is a little older. But Still maintains the tone from the original series that everyone loves: Series creators had alot to say about the Tone of Korra listed below:
Are you looking to win new viewers with the series or just satisfy fans of the old series who have grown up? DiMartino: We want everyone to watch. Definitely fans of the first series will not be disappointed in this one. The tone is a little older, the characters are a little older than the first series—they're teenagers. Korra is 16 so she's older than Aang was. So I think maybe some people who weren't into the first show might find this one and be into it. Since the main characters are older, will there be more romance? Bryan Konietzko: I thought Korra was 17 so Mike and I have to get our stories straight. The main characters are in their late teens, we've always loved those kind of teen love triangle type stories and there was plenty of that in the original series. We're definitely getting into it in this series. The difference is these people have cars and motorcycles and things. There's definitely a different dynamic. I'd say the show is more sophisticated than the original series but it has the same balance of tones we've always liked with humor, action, drama, scary stuff and romance. How did you change the look of the -Airbender" world? Konietzko: In every way we're trying to improve it. We're not trying to change it so much that it's unrecognizable and doesn't feel like the same universe, but we are trying to update it, improve it, make everything just more sophisticated and appealing.It's kind of like the show has grown up. A lot of the viewers have grown up since the show was last on.
I love the direction that the series creators are taking this, hopefully the series becomes even more huge world-wide as they try and appeal to a wider demographic, and with ATLA already appealing to such a wide group of people i'm sure they have a good shot at that. Aang and Gang Showing up in Korra? Mike and Bryan say there will be a definite link to Avatar The Last Airbender:
Will characters from the first series show up in -Korra"? Konietzko: Again it's 70 years later so they'll appear in various ways perhaps. DiMartino: There is definitely a link to the old series and the old characters.
More information about Korras Personality
Tell me about the heroine of the story, Korra. What's she like? DiMartino: Korra, we kind of describe her as a fiery waterbender. She's very pugnacious. Kind of in your face. We wanted to create a new Avatar that was completely the opposite of Aang. So, whereas Aang was the peaceful, nomadic Airbender guy, she's very tough, very headstrong, not scared to get into a fight, and kind of picks fights with people too sometimes. So she's definitely totally the opposite of Aang so it has been kind of fun to write her character and put her in situations that Aang never would have gotten into. Konietzko: It's refreshing it's totally different from Aang. But she's also funny and has a lot of charm and vulnerability because she's still growing up and trying to figure things out. We worked on that first series for more than six years and we love those characters but it's great to be working with fresh ones with a new spin on the world.
More info on the Main Villian in Korra Cool new info on the main villian in Avatar The Legend of Korra
Who is the main villain in Korra? DiMartino: We have a great villain. He's kind of an anti-bending revolutionary guy. Very scary dude. And definitely is quite a challenge for Korra.
On The Last Airbender (Movie) Sequel, Zuko's Mom, and Animated Feature Film
Will you ever make a feature animated film? Konietzko: On the original series we did our best to make it cinematic with a big immersive world. And on this series because it's a tighter stretch of episodes-just 12 episodes-but Mike and I wrote all of them, there's really no filler. We told almost as much story as the first series packed into these 12. So it's getting even closer to something cinematic. So yeah, we would love to. We feel like we're kind of movie guys working in TV. So we're looking forward to that day when we get to work in that medium. Have you heard anything about whether there will be a sequel to the -Last Airbender" live-action feature film? DiMartino: Uh, no. It's definitely not up to us, so. Will we find out what happened to Zuko's mom? DiMartino: That question will be answered in some way, but not necessarily in the show. That's all I'll say.
See the original interview with Avatar The Last Airbender Series Creators by The Wall Street Journal by Christopher John Farley