Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is shaking up its showrunners again.
Albert Kim, who served as showrunner for Season 1, is set to step down from his showrunning responsibilities, TheWrap has learned. Kim will remain on the show as an executive producer, but will pass leadership duties on to co-executive producer Christine Boylan (“Poker Face”) and EP Jabbar Raisani (“Stranger Things”).
Boylan and Raisani will serve as showrunners and executive producers for the second and third seasons of “Avatar” after the show received a two-season renewal to close out the series in early March. Boylan previously served as a co-executive producer for the series. As for Raisani, he served as executive producer and VFX supervisor as well as the director for Episodes 3 and 4.
This marks the third showrunner changeup for the Netflix original, which released its first season earlier this year. Originally, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators of the Nicktoon, were set to showrun the Netflix original. The two later stepped down from the show after two years of development work in 2020 due to creative differences. Konietzko later called the project a “negative and unsupportive environment.”
Both DiMartino and Konietzko have pledged to continue working in the “Avatar” universe despite departing from the live-action series. In February of 2021, ViacomCBS announced Avatar Studios, which is helmed by the two. Three animated movies set in the “Avatar” universe are currently being planned.
Prior to heading “Avatar,” Kim served as the showrunner and executive producer of Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow.” He’s also written for series such as AMC+’s “Pantheon,” The CW’s “Nikita,” TNT’s “Leverage” and FX’s “Dirt.”
Based on the Nickelodeon cartoon of the same name which ran from 2005 to 2008, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is set in a world where certain people known as benders have the ability to control the four elements. However, only one person a generation known as the Avatar has the ability to control all the elements — Earth, Fire, Wind and Water. The series follows Avatar Aang, a 12-year-old Air Nomad who goes missing right before a 100 year war launched by the Fire Nation. After having lost everyone he loves, Aang and his new friends must now save the world.