Before I get to the crux of this statement, I would like to make it clear that I am very aware and a

Before I get to the crux of this statement, I would like to make it clear that I am very aware and appreciative of the fact that I am in an exceedingly fortunate position, and that the following issues are indeed good problems to have — even more so now that we are in the grips of a global pandemic and a cratering economy which have left millions unemployed. With that crucial context, here is the big news from my little world.Michael DiMartino and I recently chose to leave Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the series he and I created together in 2002. We will have no involvement in the project moving forward. This is probably the most difficult decision I have ever made. But there is no doubt in my mind it was absolutely the right choice. When Netflix brought me on board to run this series alongside Mike two years ago, they made a very public promise to support our vision. Unfortunately, there was no follow-through on that promise. Though I got to work with some great individuals, both on Netflix’s side and on our own small development team, the general handling of the project created what I felt was a negative and unsupportive environment.To be clear, this was not a simple matter of us not getting our way. Mike and I are collaborative people; we did not need all of the ideas to come from us. As long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them. However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series.Though I am profoundly disappointed by how things turned out, there are wonderfully talented people who are still working on the series, some of whom Mike and I personally hired and got to know well during our time on the project. We worked very hard together towards a shared dream of how special this adaptation could be. I want to see them employed, and I hope they get the chance to do their best work on the series. Perhaps the team that remains might still be able to make something fans of the original and an entirely new audience can enjoy. By and large, I have an incredibly charmed career and I am very grateful for it. And I am enormously lucky for the amazing global community of fans that has grown around the shows Mike and I have created and run together. I will continue to be deeply involved in the Avatar universe, telling the stories my partner and I want to tell in the way we want to tell them. I will put my time, energy, and talents towards the projects that give me the most fulfilment, and where I am afforded trust and respect. Life is too short to do otherwise. – Bryan Konietzko -- source link

More pics about