‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Writer Reveals Redemption Arc for Azula, Fandom Reacts
Avatar: The Last Airbender ended after its third season, leaving fans satisfied with the story and its pacing. However, show writer Aaron Ehasz recently revealed that Avatar almost had a fourth season. And a big part of that fourth season would have been Azula’s redemption arc — perhaps not too unlike Zuko’s story line. Ehasz took to Twitter to detail what that might have looked like.
We could have seen a fourth season of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’
Aaron Ehasz chatted with Den of Geek about the fourth season of Avatar: The Last Airbender that almost was. According to Ehasz, a fourth season was always a possibility in his mind.
He told the publication, “In my mind I was always thinking this was going to be a four season arc. Mike and Bryan’s initial plan was three seasons, but there was a period where they were open to the possibility of a fourth season. There was a period where Mike said, ‘Hey, can you run season four?’ Then some of those plans got interrupted.”
Ehasz suggested that Aang might have spent some time during the fourth arc struggling with what he took into himself when removing Ozai’s ability to firebend. He said, “My feeling about that was like there’s always a cost, right? There’s always some balance. You can’t just be like I’m the Avatar, taking your powers away. It’s a great power, but part of it is you just took all this evil into you. To take it away from someone else you’re holding onto it to protect the world.”
Azula had a redemption arc coming
However, that’s not all that Avatar: The Last Airbender fans missed out on in a fourth season. Aaron Ehasz took to Twitter to detail how he aimed to include a redemption arc for Azula in the fourth season.
He wrote, “I always intended for [Azula] to have a redemption arc in the story of [Avatar: The Last Airbender].”
Ehasz continued, “Longer and far more complicated than Zuko’s. She had not bottomed in the end of season 3, she had further to go. At the deepest moment in her own abyss she would have found: Zuko.”
He added that Zuko would be able to apply much of what he learned from Uncle Iroh to help his sister. He wrote, “Despite it all, her brother Zuko would be there for her. Believing in her, sticking by her, doing his best to understand and help her hold her pain that she can no longer hold alone. Zuko — patient, forgiving, and unconditionally loving – all strengths he gained from Uncle Iroh.”
Ehasz went on to say, “That’s how she would have gotten out, and changed. With the faith and love of someone she had hurt, but who stuck by her anyway. Just as he had been saved by faith and love from someone he had hurt, but who stuck by him.”
‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ fans react to the news
Many fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender seemed to enjoy the idea of an Azula redemption arc. One fan replied to Ehasz tweets with, “Aaron if you ever decide to pull a samurai jack and want to make this arc and the story of season 4 happen someday (whatever type of media it is) just know that there are many of us willing to help fund you and make this dream a reality (for all of us).”
“As a massive fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, thank you SO MUCH for sharing this wonderful thread and your ideas for Azula. Zuko is my favourite character in the series and it’s great to hear your thoughts about Azula. It was quite tragic where Book 3 left her character,” added another fan.
One fan asked if this might be included in the upcoming live-action remake. They asked, “Could this happen in the new netflix series? I’m not sure how involved you are since you’re doing The Dragon Prince but if the ideals of this were shared between everyone could be something you can finally show.”
