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