After 12 years, it’s time for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender to admit that we were too harsh on The Legend of Korra. Right from the start, The Legend of Korra was divisive. The list of complaints about The Legend of Korra ranged from Korra’s more stubborn and brash personality in stark contrast to Aang, the show’s decision to focus on a new problem and antagonist with each season, and a general dislike of the side characters and romantic aspects.
Most of the hate The Legend of Korra got came from the mere fact that it was a sequel to The Last Airbender. The original series is regarded as one of the best animated shows ever made. Korra simply couldn’t live up to its legacy; Aang had left shoes too big for Korra to fill, by many fans’ metrics. By the time The Legend of Korra ended in 2014, it was widely regarded as a lackluster sequel to the original The Last Airbender, even though it did garner acclaim from critics and a dedicated group of fans.
For over a decade now, the idea that The Legend of Korra was overshadowed by The Last Airbender has been the prevailing opinion of the show. There’s still discussion of how Korra changed Aang’s legacy, of how the show couldn’t live up to the original, and how upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender projects have a chance to be a more universally liked sequel. However, it’s high time that we all admit we judged The Legend of Korra too harshly.
ATLA’s Recent Projects Are Proof That Korra Was Special
The Legend of Korra has recently had a bit of a renaissance thanks to The Last Airbender‘s more recent projects. It’s no secret that The Last Airbender has been very hit-and-miss in recent years. Netflix’s live-action series has its ups and downs, but it’s mediocre on the whole and took two years between seasons. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender was pretty good, but it rehashed many of the same themes and character moments the original series had already resolved.
Even the upcoming series Avatar: Seven Havens has its problems. While its story seems great, and it could very easily do some interesting things with both Aang and Korra’s legacies, there’s a chance that Seven Havens will be released all at once in a binge-watching format on Paramount+. Avatar Aang, as well, was supposed to be a theatrical premiere, but it was switched to a Paramount+ exclusive.
All of these problems and inconsistencies in the Last Airbender franchise have made it clear that we severely undervalued The Legend of Korra for one thing: its consistency. It released four seasons in a little under four years, and while season 4 was released on Nick.com, it was primarily shown on Nickelodeon with weekly episodes. It had the same structure as the original show, it allowed its characters to grow and change over time, and as long as you bought into the new Avatar, it maintained a very consistent level of quality across all of its seasons.
The Legend of Korra, now, feels like a relic of a bygone era when The Last Airbender knew what it wanted to do and what kind of story it wanted to tell. It had a very distinctive voice, a very consistent structure and schedule, and it fully committed to every decision it made regardless of the controversy it spurred. Compare that to Netflix’s The Last Airbender, which can’t decide whether it wants to be faithful or make changes, and Avatar Aang, which can’t let go of the past, and you realize that Korra was actually quite special.
The Legend Of Korra Has Aged Tremendously Well
The current state of The Last Airbender franchise is a chance to reevaluate The Legend of Korra, but it’s not the only reason we should admit that we were too harsh on the show. Korra itself has aged tremendously well. It’s still the second-best entry in the Last Airbender franchise even with the recent influx of new shows. So many of the things fans hated back in 2012 are actually virtues, and they’ve been there since the beginning.
Korra’s differences from Aang, for example, were hated at first. Now, however, they make her a unique, independent character who brings something new to the ATLA franchise. The various challenges and antagonists Korra faces, as well, gave her a sense of growth and gave the whole show a sense of progression, even though the series lacked a central villain across all four seasons.
Most importantly, the thing that The Legend of Korra was hated for most has become its greatest strength: its willingness to tell a new story. For years now, we’ve gotten remakes of the original show, video games based on the original show, continuations of the original show using the same characters, and more. Everyone wants to perfectly replicate The Last Airbender. The Legend of Korra is a breath of fresh air for doing the exact opposite and daring to make bold, creative choices in service of telling its own, new story.
- Release Date
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2012 – 2014-00-00
- Network
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Nickelodeon
- Showrunner
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Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino
- Directors
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Colin Heck, Joaquim Dos Santos, Ki Hyun Ryu, Melchior Zwyer
- Writers
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Joshua Hamilton, Tim Hedrick
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Janet Varney
Korra (voice)
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David Faustino
Mako (voice)