Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Trailer Gets Shot-For-Shot Animated Comparison

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" boasts a deeply devoted fanbase, stretching back to the animated series' original run on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008, and they have been burned before — specifically, by M. Night Shyamalan and his 2010 live-action effort. In 2020, series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino dropped out of the forthcoming adaptation, citing creative differences with Netflix. It looked, yet again, like a live-action version was doomed.

When the trailer for "Avatar: The Last Airbender" dropped on November 9, fans were able to let out a sigh of relief. The trailer's colors pop, the production design is ambitious and fantastical, and the bending itself is rendered with care. Above all, the series — which is set to debut on February 22, 2024 — looks faithful to the original. So faithful, in fact, that WatchMojo released a side-by-side comparison of the trailer and scenes from the animated series on TikTok.

The shot-for-shot video highlights just how many scenes in the trailer are pulled directly from the animated series. It opens with Katara and Sokka discovering the globe-shaped iceberg in which Aang was frozen for 100 years. Other key locations and characters come next: the animated city of Omashu is a dead ringer for the towering animated version, as is Crescent Island, and the Kyoshi Warriors' real-life makeup is especially vivid. Based on the comments section, the side-by-side analysis has fans more excited than ever.

The upcoming "Avatar: The Last Airbender" live-action series will comprise eight episodes — a much shorter order than the original series' 20-episode first season. If WatchMojo's TikTok is any indication, the new show will stuff in plenty of lore from specific episodes. Indeed, the trailer contains many big reveals, including allusions to "The Warriors of Kyoshi," "The King of Omashu," and "The Winter Solstice." It's unlikely that standalone, less plot-heavy episodes like "Imprisoned" and "The Great Divide" will make the cut, especially those that focus on minor characters.

That being said, it's those sorts of one-off episodes that tend to give the series levity. Without them, fans worry, the live-action series may feel too heavy. "This needs to have a sense of humor to balance out the weight-ier moments," wrote one TikTok commenter. "['Avatar: The Last Airbender'] was serious but it was also balanced." Another added, "I need [Sokka's] humor to be the same." The WatchMojo video does inject some humor by adding the doomed cabbage merchant at the very end (who, it should be mentioned, is credited in the new series' cast).

Despite fans' minor misgivings, the TikTok has them feeling cautiously optimistic for the upcoming series. "Already looks far better than the movie of which we do not speak," one user wrote. A second viewer couldn't contain their excitement, writing in all caps, "I'M SO NERVOUSLY HOPEFUL." The TikTok proves that the minds behind the new "Avatar" have absorbed an important lesson: when it comes to live-action adaptations, it's best not to reinvent the wheel.