Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Changes Showrunners Again

Avatar: The Last Airbender is heading into its second season with its third showrunner at the helm.

Showrunner Albert Kim, who replaced creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, is also exiting the Netflix live-action series. Co-executive producer Christine Boylan and exec producer Jabbar Raisani — both of whom were hired by Kim — will take over as the drama’s third showrunners for the previously announced second and third seasons.

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Sources say Kim’s intention was to lay the foundation for season one of Avatar: The Last Airbender after stepping in for the beloved franchise’s creators. Given the long turnaround time in crafting the series — Netflix ordered it in 2018, the creators left in late 2020 and the show didn’t debut until February 2024 — sources say Kim was ready to move on to new opportunities.

Kim, whose résumé include Sleepy Hollow and Leverage, will remain credited as an exec producer on Avatar: The Last Airbender as he is expected to sign a development deal with Disney’s 20th Television. Kim, who will develop new projects Disney after his Netflix pact expired, will join the Disney+ series Percy Jackson as an exec producer alongside Jon Steinberg, Dan Shotz and Craig Silverstein, the latter of whom he worked with on The CW’s Nikita. (Reps for Disney declined to comment.)

For her part, Boylan’s credits include Leverage, Castle, Once Upon a Time, The Punisher and, more recently, Poker Face and Citadel. The producer and playwright is nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award as part of the team behind Peacock’s Poker Face. She’s a graduate of the WGA’s Showrunner Training Program, the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and has written comics for Marvel, DC and more.

Raisani exec produced season one and also served as a director on episodes three and four, as well as a VFX supervisor. The show stars Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu and Ken Leung, with Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Daniel Dae Kim. Exec producers include Kim, Raisani, Dan Lin and Lindsey Liberatore on behalf of Rideback and Michael Goi.

Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender launched to high expectations from the original anime show’s die-hard audience. Critics were less than kind, with the show currently sitting at a 60 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, as audiences found the show a bit more favorable (74 percent). THR TV critic Angie Han said in her review that the live-action remake was “a major letdown.”

Netflix renewed the show almost immediately after its debut for two additional seasons that will bring A:TLA to a close with its third and final season as it follows the trajectory of the original animated series.

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