The Avatar Aang That Almost Was: A Pregnant Katara and an Earthbender King

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender went through several versions before it reached Paramount+. Two recent pieces show how different it might have been.

On September 29, the official Avatar Legends channels posted a Braving the Elements clip titled "Katara Was Pregnant in the Avatar Aang Movie?!" In it, director Lauren Montgomery walks through an early plan, shown in concept art, for Katara to be pregnant with her and Aang's first child and still fighting through the film. The idea first came out at Comic-Con in July. Michael Dante DiMartino said it pushed the characters too far ahead, and The Legend of Korra already makes Bumi their first child. Montgomery, who joined after the idea came up, said the story didn't need it.

The villain changed too. Montgomery told CGMagazine at SCAD AnimationFest that Tagah was the third antagonist the team settled on. One earlier version was built around an Earthbender king. Bryan Konietzko's first pitch had Aang learning something new about his culture. Montgomery's team shifted the focus to Aang grieving as the last airbender, something he never had time to do in the series.

Asked about sequels, Montgomery said the film was made to stand on its own and that there was never a plan to tell three stories back to back. No follow-up film has been announced.