The shared universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra is about to get a lot bigger. Nickelodeon has established Avatar Studios, a brand-new content division dedicated to expanding the beloved franchise with animated shows and movies for streaming and linear platforms as well as theatrical releases. The studio's first project will be a theatrical film set to begin production later this year.

In an official press release, original series creators and executive producers Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino said, “It’s hard to believe it’s been 19 years since we created Avatar: The Last Airbender. But even after all that time, there are still many stories and time periods in Aang’s world that we are eager to bring to life. We are fortunate to have an ever-growing community of passionate fans that enjoys exploring the Avatarverse as much as we do. And with this new Avatar Studios venture we have an unparalleled opportunity to develop our franchise and its storytelling on a vast scale, in myriad exciting ways and mediums.”

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Image via Nickelodeon

Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra have grown at least ten-fold in popularity since their original hit runs on Nickelodeon, and [Nickelodeon Animation President] Ramsey Naito and I are incredibly excited to have Mike and Bryan’s genius talent on board to helm a studio devoted to expanding their characters and world into new content and formats for fans everywhere,” said Brian Robbins, President, ViacomCBS Kids & Family. “Creator-driven stories and characters have long been the hallmarks of Nickelodeon, and Avatar Studios is a way to give Mike and Bryan the resources and runway to open up their imaginations even more and dive deeper into the action and mythology of Avatar as we simultaneously expand upon that world and the world of content available on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon.”

Despite a disastrous live-action film adaptation in 2010, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have maintained a massive fanbase that will no doubt be delighted by the news that Konietzko and DiMartino will be involved in a slate of new Avatar animated projects. The pair had initially been attached to a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender for Netflix before departing the project citing creative differences last year.

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