Netflix planning live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender with original creators

Nickelodeon’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender might go down in history as one of the best TV shows of all time, but when M. Night Shyamalan adapted it into a live-action film, it was a legendary flop. Today, Netflix has announced it will give “Avatar but with actual humans in it” another go. But this time, there’s hope that the project might actually be good — the original Avatar showrunners, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, will be executive producers on the new adaptation.

The Last Airbender, which aired on Nickelodeon in 2005, tells the tale of a young boy, Aang, who must master the control of the four elements and rally four nations of elemental warriors to defeat a tyrannical villain. Shyamalan’s film adaptation was widely criticized for a wide variety of reasons — a clunky narrative, awful dialogue, wooden acting — but also because its main characters, mostly martial artists who live in Asian-inspired cultures, were largely played by white actors. (At least, the heroes were. The villains were primarily darker-skinned actors of various racial backgrounds.) DiMartino and Konietzko want to avoid that misstep this time around.

“We’re thrilled for the opportunity to helm this live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender,” the pair said in a press release. “We can’t wait to realize Aang’s world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone’s great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action, and world-building.”

While production won’t begin until 2019, for now, we’ve got some concept art that depicts the protagonist with Appa, the six-legged flying bison who Aang and his friends ride as they travel around the world on their quest.