Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Showrunner Albert Kim Steps Down, Moves To Disney
Jabbar Raisani & Christine Boylan will now showrun the series’s recently-ordered latter two seasons
If I had a nickel for every time a showrunner of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender left, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot when Law & Order: Organized Crime exists, but still it’s not great. Albert Kim, who had developed the show and written the first episode with the original Nicktoon’s creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko before they left over creative differences, is stepping down himself.
Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani will lead the show as executive producers for the remainder of its run, the two seasons that were officially ordered in early March, just a couple of weeks after the series had its rousing debut on the streamer. Boylan served as co-executive producer, having come from experience working on Castle and co-writing second and third-season episodes of Once Upon A Time and co-executive producing Citadel, Poker Face and The Punisher. while Raisani was an executive producer, director, and a VFX supervisor for the first season. His executive producing includes the Lost in Space reboot. He has also been VFX supervisor on series including Stranger Things and Game of Thrones, and previously spoken about scenes that were filmed that didn’t make it into season one.
Kim will still be involved, remaining as an executive producer for the rest of the series. He reportedly wanted to look for new opportunities after having spent so long developing this adaptation, which makes sense as he was announced to have been writer, showrunner, and of course executive producer in August 2021, which was 14 months after DiMartino and Konietzko left so the gap until his hiring is probably smaller. Indeed, he has found those new opportunities, signing a deal with Disney to not only develop new projects there, but board Percy Jackson and the Olympians as an executive producer there as well. He previously worked with now-fellow executive producer Craig Silverstein on Pantheon and Nikita and they will team with showrunners Jonathan E. Steinberg and Dan Shotz.
Set in a mystical world where people can manipulate, or bend, the elements, Avatar: The Last Airbender is about 12-year-old Aang, played by Gordon Cormier, awakens to waterbenders Katara, played by Kiawentiio, and Sokka, played by Ian Ousley from a self-induced century-long icy stasis to discover that his airbending people have been genocided. The Fire Nation is encroaching on global domination. As the Avatar, who can bend all four elements known at the time, Aang must bring balance to the world and works with his friends to defeat the efforts of Fire Lord Ozai, played by Daniel Dae Kim. Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Elizabeth Yu as Azula and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh will definitely continue as series regulars for the second season, while Thalia Tran and Momona Tamada are expected to be upped to regulars in their roles of Azula’s friends Mai and Ty Lee.
