Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender Explained: Tagah, Sonam's Staff and That Ending

Last updated October 14, 2026.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender has been streaming on Paramount+ since July 25 and arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on November 3. Here's a guide to its story, with the ending kept in a spoiler zone.

Where it fits The film is set about 13 years after the Hundred Year War. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and Fire Lord Zuko have helped turn Republic City into a home for every nation, but Aang is still grieving his own people. It sits between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

The setup At the empty Southern Air Temple, Aang is attacked by the Denied, a group of non-bending outlaws who steal a map pointing to a forgotten airbender Avatar named Sonam. Through his past lives, including the Earth Kingdom scholar Avatar Xian, Aang learns that Sonam's staff could channel Spirit World energy and give other people airbending. Team Avatar heads for Mount Baihu to find it first.

Who is Tagah? On the mountain they find Tagah, an airbender frozen for roughly 5,000 years, just as Aang was frozen in the iceberg. He was a devoted follower of Sonam, and he shares Aang's dream of bringing back the Air Nomads, but he resents the other nations. Dave Bautista voices him.

The voice cast Eric Nam voices Aang, with Jessica Matten as Katara, Román Zaragoza as Sokka, Dionne Quan as Toph and Steven Yeun as Zuko. Freida Pinto plays Sonam, Ke Huy Quan plays Xian, and Dee Bradley Baker is back as Appa and Momo, the only voice actor from the original series to return.

Spoiler zone: the ending explained - Tagah's betrayal: on Sonam's hidden island, Tagah turns on the group and steals the staff. Katara revives everyone, and Sonam's spirit tells Aang that war broke Tagah, who betrayed her too. She had imprisoned him and hidden the staff for a future Avatar. - The battle: Tagah and the Denied, now airbending through the staff, attack Republic City. Aang slips into a corrupted Avatar State, but memories of Monk Gyatso pull him back to mercy. - The choice: Aang spares Tagah and destroys the staff. The Denied lose their airbending, Tagah fades away, and Aang tells him they both have to forgive themselves for failing their people. - What it means: Aang decides the Air Nomads' legacy is their values, which anyone can learn. He opens a new Air Temple on an island near Republic City, the same island fans know from The Legend of Korra, with a reformed member of the Denied, Kallik, among the first Air Acolytes. The film ends with the discovery of a surviving herd of sky bison.