Upon receiving the request from Netflix to contribute to the live-action series adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Albert Kim’s enthusiastic answer was akin to “Absolutely!” The writer from Pantheon and executive producer from Sleepy Hollow developed a strong admiration for the original Nickelodeon show, which is widely regarded as hallowed ground by several individuals. Initially, he observed with the expectation of having to explain the ideas to his daughter, but eventually got fully engrossed in the narrative himself. “The storytelling itself was incredibly grand and exceeded the expectations of its intended audience,” he states in his first interview with EW in December, discussing the upcoming drama.

Subsequently, to steal an expression from the cartoon series, a significant transformation occurred when… Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, the original architects of Avatar, withdrew from the Netflix endeavor after a two-year involvement. Their public declarations in 2020 were a significant disappointment to the fan base. DiMartino expressed his inability to exert influence on the artistic trajectory of the series. Although he saw the possibility of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar being commendable, it would eventually deviate from the original vision he and Konietzko had in mind.

RELATED: New ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Images: The Gaang’s All Here

While all parties looked to split ways on good terms — Konietzko and DiMartino are currently collaborating on various other animated Avatar projects — Kim confesses it “absolutely” felt difficult to continue the Netflix adaptation as showrunner without the original creators. “You’d have to be an idiot not to be intimidated a little bit,” he adds. “My first reaction after ‘Hell yeah!’ was ‘Holy s—! Do I really want to do this? Is there a way to improve upon the original?’ Whenever you approach something that’s already cherished by millions of admirers, you have to ask yourself those questions.”

His response, if it’s not already evident, was yes, he did still want to do this – for all the reasons he fell in love with the original in the first place. Fantasy TV epics like Game of Thrones and The Witcher are steeped in Western European mythology, while Avatar, Kim points out, is rooted in Asian culture. “That was incredibly rare. It still is,” he says. “A live-action version meant setting new benchmarks for representation by featuring an all Asian and Indigenous cast.”

Not to mention it’s been more than 15 years since the original went off the air, but it inspired spinoff series The Legend of Korra, comic books, video games, and the like. “That was really appealing to me, being able to bring this story to a new generation,” Kim says.

In a medieval-influenced world full of benders, people with the capacity to control one of the natural elements, Aang (Gordon Cormier) is the Avatar, a reborn creature who can harness all four in order to preserve balance in the universe. But this lovely and humorous spirit, who’s been strangely gone for years, has suddenly reappeared at a moment when Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) is deep into the Fire Nation’s struggle for dominion. While being sought by Ozai’s son, Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu), Aang must depend on his new companions, waterbender Katara (Kiawentiio) and her brother Sokka (Ian Ousley) of the Southern Water Tribe, in the hopes of perfecting his talents and restoring peace to the world.

Konietzko and DiMartino’s presence isn’t wholly missing from the live-action series. Traces of them still remain. Kim met down with the pair in the early days before their departure to pick their brains. He says, “It ran the spectrum of incredibly esoteric tiny things that no one but for devoted fans may care about — concerns like Katara’s mom or Aang’s origins — to larger picture issues about how to convert what made the original so wonderful into a live-action version.” At the same time, he underlines, “This is Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it is our version of Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

The animated original featured a plot that played out across 20 challenge-of-the-week-style episodes in its first season before evolving to a more serialized approach in its second and third seasons. The live-action Avatar will instead begin to recreate the key events using an eight-episode hourlong drama structure for the first run. As such, Kim notes, certain events will have a precise one-to-one adaptation, while others will be remixed.

For one, “We don’t start the show the way the animated series starts,” Kim explains. “That was a conscious decision to show people this is not the animated series.” For instance, “We had to sometimes unravel storylines and remix them in a new way to make sense for a serialized drama,” he says. “So I’m very curious to see what’ll happen in terms of reaction to that.”

In the end, the team’s objective was to keep loyal to the original essence of the animated series, while presenting a vast, sweeping fantasy epic. “All of our writers are also fans of the original, so they drew upon their own personal experiences and the things that they love the best,” Kim explains. “We made sure to include all those in the show.”

Avatar: The Last Airbender will launch Thursday, Feb. 22, on Netflix.

Sign up for MovieBeacon free daily email to receive breaking TV news, exclusive first peeks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite performers, and more.