James Cameron has been talking about Avatar 2 for so long that people often lose all focus when the subject is brought up. With the resumption of filming though, there is some danger of the movie actually being completed and it began trending on Twitter recently, only for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender to become frustrated when they realized the topic didn’t refer to their preferred sequel.
Since The Legend of Korra picks up 70 years after The Last Airbender finishes, there is a wealth of potential story to be told, such as Aang’s efforts to re-establish the Air Nomads, Toph developing the art of metalbending, the ultimate fate of Azula after her admittance to a mental asylum, or Zuko changing the Fire Nation from a country of megalomaniacal thugs to something existing more in harmony with the rest of the world.
Additionally, there are a number of comics that continue the story of Team Avatar, such as Zuko searching for his mother and another dealing with revolutionaries who seek to depose him, any one of which would make for a great miniseries, and fans were quick to voice their disappointment after becoming briefly excited then having their hopes dashed.
Avatar 2 trending in a nutshell: pic.twitter.com/6JjqkzW6aB
— Best Friend's Love Interest (@ShounenChild) June 20, 2020
Me thinking y’all were talking about Aang: # Avatar 2 pic.twitter.com/YamrSH5U2i
— leah (@leahrosariio) June 20, 2020
Avatar 2? Y’all talking about the wrong Avatar pic.twitter.com/zxFtUIhN69
— じょじょ (@VonChetheim) June 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/BrokeBoySam/status/1274453992962228231
The only Avatar 2 that needs to be made is a new Last Airbender movie.
The first one was the worst movie of all time and that’s not an exaggeration. pic.twitter.com/sbpgulfn24
— 𝓜𝓪𝓽𝓽 ✈️ (@mldiffley) June 20, 2020
since avatar 2 is trending:
cultural impact:
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█ ＿ pic.twitter.com/fnZ2Madzo3— k (@IDOLisBTSVT) June 20, 2020
https://twitter.com/MochaUchiha/status/1274520000548700160
saw Avatar 2 trending and it’s about them blue aliens and not about Aang. pic.twitter.com/fFvGA3lyXT
— noctis 🐝 (@itsNXCTIS) June 20, 2020
The next time I see Avatar 2 trending, it better be the Gaang grown up in their 20s looking like this pic.twitter.com/RRjPQaMWDs
— c✨✨ (@matchamwah) June 20, 2020
Avatar 2 is trending and its the wrong Avatar smh wake me up when they animate these Id love to see the search with Zuko for his mom #AvatarTheLastAirbender pic.twitter.com/oU8D1Z3mfc
— Danny Luxray (@DannyLuxray) June 20, 2020
James Cameron’s Avatar was for some time the most successful movie ever, although its brief flash of popularity was mainly due to its timely release, at a point just when the public’s interest in revamped 3D reached its zenith and advancements in mo-cap technology allowed it to be properly realized. The visuals were admittedly magnificent and were a large part of what drew audiences to it in droves, but once you look past them, it’s little more than a fairly standard narrative driven by outmoded storytelling tropes of a white savior going native and rescuing a tribe of noble savages.
Avatar 2 is scheduled for release next year, but is unlikely to have as much of an impact second time around. Meanwhile, if a Last Airbender sequel series were ever made, the internet would likely implode under the force of the combined excitement.