Television writer Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani attend Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California, February 15, 2024 – Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Avatar: The Last Airbender is getting a shake-up behind the scenes, with Christine Boylan taking over showrunning duties for the upcoming seasons with Jabbar Raisani upped to producing director.
In case you missed it, Netflix announced on March 6th, 2024, that it had given a two-season renewal order for the live-action series. The show is returning for a second and third season to “conclude” the epic story of Aang’s journey to become the Avatar. At the time of renewal, Netflix stated, “Episode count and other details will be shared later.”
Quickly coming up on two months since the show debuted on February 22nd globally, the show continues to feature in the top 10s. Now in its sixth week in the top 10s, the show has had 442.60 million hours watched on Netflix globally, which equates to 61.20 million completed viewing equivalents.
Albert Kim was the first season’s showrunner and is handing over the show’s reins to the duo mentioned but will continue to be listed as an executive producer. Kim is reportedly working on a new series called The Last Frontier and is allegedly attached to Percy Jackson & The Olympians season 2.
The news of the showrunner replacement news comes via Caleb Williams of Knight Edge Media. He was behind several scoops for the show’s first season, not least announcing that Takeshi Furukawa would compose the live-action remake.
Boylan served as co-executive producer on the entirety of season 1 and wrote season 1, episode 3: Omashu.
Boylan’s credits include serving as co-executive producer and writer on the hit Peacock series Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne. Elsewhere, credits include Netflix’s Shadow & Bone, The Punisher, Cloak & Dagger, Citadel, Constantine, and Once Upon a Time.
Raisani served as executive producer on the show’s first season and directed two episodes, episode 3 (Omashu) and episode 4 (Into the Dark).
Raisani’s other credits include Stranger Things, Lost in Space, and The CW’s The Flash.
According to some production listings, filming for the new season is expected to kick off in Q3 2024, with the show returning to Vancouver, Canada, to film. Seasons 2 and 3 are expected to be filmed back-to-back.
Are you disappointed that Albert Kim won’t return as showrunner for the second season? Let us know in the comments.