by Jeremy Fuscaldo
On the last day of New York Comic Con 2025, the main stage at the Javits Center was taken over for the Avatar: The Last Airbender 20th anniversary panel.
Moderated by original Korra voice actress Janet Varney, the panel featured series co-creator Bryan Konietzko, original Aang voice actor Zach Tyler Eisen, Zuko voice actor Dante Basco, original Sokka voice actor Jack De Sean, original Toph voice actress Michaela Jill Murphy, and Katara voice actress Mae Whitman. The core cast of the original series was present with the exception of original Suki voice actress Jennie Kwan. In her place was Avatar/Kyoshi Warrior cosplayer Cynthia Chao, who participated in table reads of original episode scripts with the cast.
When each panelist was introduced, they walked on stage and a large slide with their name, photo, and a chibi sketch of their character by Konietzko showed behind them.
Some of the notable panel highlights included moments where the cast all reenacted famous lines from their respective characters. The cast also talked about how they relate to their characters as they get older.
Basco joked about not remembering all of Avatar until he rewatched it during the pandemic. Whitman talked about Katara’s complexities and how they make her an incredible female character; she said she loves how human and capable Katara is, and how smart, loyal, and kind she is, too.
Murphy joked that the characters should all go to therapy. Chao, who’s a huge fan of the show, said Toph is one of her favorite characters because of the comedy she brings.
Of course, the cast couldn’t talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender without mentioning the voice work done by Uncle Iroh’s original voice actor, the late Mako, who passed in 2006. Basco shared how much of a friend Mako was to him while they were recording the original series in the 2000s; Basco said Mako was always checking in on him to see how he was doing and said that he was a hero to the AANHPI filmmaking community and an active member in some of the acting organizations.
Basco added that because the late actor served as a mentor figure in his life, he feels he’s continuing that lineage. Mako died after completing most of his lines for Avatar Season 2 and was replaced by Greg Baldwin who voiced the character for the next 20 years, with Mako’s family giving him his blessing.
Some of my favorite moments of the Avatar 20th anniversary panel were when the cast did table reads. The first was one of the scenes from S2E12, “The Serpent’s Pass”; the second was an excerpt from S3E12, “The Western Air Temple”; and the final table read was an excerpt from the third act of the series finale, “Sozin’s Comet.” Each table read showed art by Konietzko that he said he worked really hard to present in time for the panel.
In the aftermath of “The Western Air Temple” script read, the cast joked about how Zuko found Combustion Man on the Dark Web.
When the topic of the series’ original development came up, Konietzko talked about how most of the characters were created early on in the process. Originally, he was an artist on Invader Zim for Nickelodeon before the show ended, and he was ready to give up. Then he and Michael DiMartino worked together on some ideas for an animated series to Nickelodeon.
The project they initially conceived of did not get greenlit, but that rejection led to the duo developing another show idea that would eventually become Avatar: The Last Airbender.
There were some early sketches of Aang that stuck out to him and Konietzko commented that the opening sequence of the show of Aang standing on the cliff looking out at the view before him was something conceived of during initial development. He explained that his intention for that part of the intro was to show how Aang’s compassion, openness, and curiosity about the world around him drives him to become the Avatar and explore the world—never for dominance or control or conquest.
As the panel wound down, the panelists talked about their favorite episodes of the series. Murphy’s favorite is S2E10, “The Library,” because it touches upon the theme of the power and danger of knowledge and how it can be weaponized. Eisen’s favorite episode is S2E16, “The Lost Days of Appa.”
Some of Whitman’s favorite moments from the show are when she was in the recording studio and acting out the reunion between Katara and Sokka’s dad. Konietzko said that when Whitman was acting as Katara was yelling at her father, it was all done in one take.
In the last few minutes of the panel, the cast teased upcoming books, comics, and more from Avatar Studios. The company branched out of Nickelodeon Animation Studios in 2021 to focus exclusively on projects under the Avatar banner.
Highlights include:
- Avatar Legends, Vol. 1: City of Echoes by Judy I. Lin (Available Now)
- Beasts of the Four Nations: Creatures from Avatar – The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra (Available Now)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Official Baking Book by Jenn Fujikawa and Marc Sumerak (Available Now)
- Avatar Legends Bending Academy: Fire #1 – Light It Up! by Ash J. Wu (November 18)
- Chronicles of the Avatar, Vol. 6: The Awakening of Roku by Randy Ribay (December 30)
Additional projects include new animated Avatar Chibi Shorts on YouTube; a Hatsune Miku x Avatar collaboration with YouTooz; the Magic: The Gathering x Avatar: The Last Airbender collaboration, with cards designed by Konietzko; the Book 2: Earth original soundtrack by Jeremy Zuckerman, and more.
The upcoming movie The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender was also briefly teased, though Konietzko said he cannot share much beyond a potential release in January 2026.
The new series Avatar: Seven Havens, produced by Konietzko and DiMartino, will chronicle the adventures of the new Avatar.
Last but not least, the panel showed a trailer for the new video game Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, scheduled for release next summer. The trailer, which you can watch below, shows character gameplay with Aang, Zuko, and Korra.
This is an exciting time for the Avatar franchise. My hope is that new projects under such an established IP will generate job openings for the animation industry in the next decade, as well as open up more opportunities for illustrators and writers in the publishing field.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from NYCC ’25.
English (US) · 