“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked...” are the words that opened every single episode of the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series. For those of us who grew up with the show, Katara’s opening monologue is engrained in our memories. So, it was a tad shocking when Netflix’s Avatar adaptation premiered on the 2024 TV schedule, and we didn’t hear those exact words.
However, like many of the changes made in ATLA, there’s a good reason behind the opening credits being different, and showrunner Albert Kim explained the choice to CinemaBlend.
How The Animated Series Opening Credits Were Modified In Episode One Of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender
Instead of Katara narrating the monologue (as you can see below), Avatar Kyoshi does the voice-over. She introduces the audience to the Avatar and how the cycle works, she then explains that Fire Lord Sozin decided to kill the Avatar, who had not been revealed yet. So, unlike the animated series, which has Katara introducing Aang’s story specifically, this series has the Avatar from two generations earlier explaining what happened before Aang’s disappearance.
This moment in the live-action series (which you can see in the video below) comes right after we witness the Air Nomad genocide, which happened 100 years before Sokka and Katara found Aang. Showrunner Albert Kim told me that this was why the opening sequence was different:
We always knew that you couldn't do that monologue in the first episode, because of the way we structured our episode. You know, we started 100 years ago, right? So you couldn't have Katara saying those words. So I always knew I wanted to get it in somehow, which is why it ends up as a Gran Gran speech. And it's a bit of an Easter egg for fans, and for new viewers it's a way to understand what happens with the world.
Along with other Avatar East eggs, Gran Gran’s monologue served as a lovely nod to the OG opening sequence.
Kim continued to explain to me that they did that as well as developed the opening credits sequence for the fans to pay homage to the animated show, however, it also served as a valuable tool for new viewers:
And then we also added this other prologue, kind of in the first episode, again, as a little bit of a hand-holding technique for new viewers who may not be as familiar with the world of Avatar. And we borrowed kind of elements from the opening titles from the original.
After the first episode though, we don’t see this opening sequence again, and the iconic monologue isn’t heard.
Why There Aren’t Opening Credits After Episode One
To this point, Albert Kim explained why the opening credits aren’t included after episode one. When they condensed Avatar into an eight-episode drama, they had to make changes to help the show flow. According to the showrunner, that was also why there are title cards instead of a full sequence on every episode after the first one:
After that in the subsequent episodes, to be honest, it's kind of a Netflix-specific situation. Their platform is one that they know better than I do. And they felt like the way their episodes flow from one to the other in the binging model that it would work best with the title card so that we get right into the story. That's not to say that it will come back in subsequent seasons, but for the first season, it felt like the way to go.
Now, Avatar: The Last Airbender has been renewed for a second and third season, meaning it will get to tell its full story. Kim seemed to hint at possibly considering a change in the opening credits moving forward, so maybe now that the ATLA cast is established in their roles, Katara will return to make her iconic speech. However, that’s just a theory.
We’ll have to wait until Season 2 to see how the opening credits and the show as a whole evolve. To go back and see the difference between the opening of the animated and live-action shows you can stream both iterations of Avatar: The Last Airbender with a Netflix subscription.
