Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series recently debuted on Netflix. The new adaption gave us many changes (some good, some bad) from the classic Nickelodeon animated series. One of the changes was bringing the main antagonists, Princess Azula (played by Elizabeth Yu) and Firelord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim), from the later seasons into the first season. They are given their own original sub-plot surrounding Fire Nation resistance within the Capitol City that opposes the Firelord. Many fans have praised this change as a great way to expand on both characters further before they take over as the show’s main villains.
We at Knight Edge Media believe this same tactic can be used for another underuitlized character in the original series, Suki. She only appears in less than half a dozen episodes between both the first and second seasons, before finally becoming part of Team Avatar halfway through the third season. The original creators, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, really never considered Suki an integral part of the story but a friendly ally to Team Avatar. She becomes Sokka’s future love interest following the death of Princess Yue. This is something that the live-action series could expand by giving Suki (played by Maria Zhang) and the other Kyoshi Warriors an original sub-lot throughout their season 2. It doesn’t hurt that many fans have also loved Maria Zhang’s interpretation of the character in season 1.
One of the ideas for the live-action series is they could interweave a secret plot that surrounds the Kyoshi Warriors investing in the Dai Li outside of Ba Sing Se. The story can begin with the Kyoshi Warriors leaving the island where they grew up to help people throughout the Earth Kingdom after being inspired by Team Avatar. Just like in the original series, they will become guards at Full Moon Bay, where Suki will again meet Team Avatar. However, the Warriors can learn of a secret organization within Ba Sing Si that has been behind the “justice and order” that surrounds the refugees trying to enter the city.
They leave to investigate more around the Earth Kingdom about this secret organization. They eventually come across Appa on his own, wounded and scared from his time in captivity and away from Aang. This is where the Kyoshi Warriors learn that the Beetle-headed merchants were the ones who paid the Sandbenders for the bison to sell to a secret buyer in Ba Sing Se. The story could include a Bill of Sale still attached to Appa. Here, Suki learns of the Dai Li by name (or Long Feng directly) and their interactions with the Avatar’s Bison. The Warriors also learn in their travels the Earth King hasn’t been seen in over 40 years (as he never leaves the palace).
This conspiracy comes to a head, and Suki decides that the Kyoshi Warriors must travel to Ba Sing Se with the Avatar’s bison and also investigate the missing Earth King. This is something Kyoshi would have wanted them to do and they are the only ones that know of the conspiracy. Not to mention, Kyoshi would be angry that the Dai Li became corrupt after she formed the organization for good (a throwback reference to the Kyoshi novels). Finally, all this is overheard by Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, who attack the Warriors before they depart. Everything else plays out as the animated series with Suki captured and sent to the Boiling Rock as the leader. As well as Appa flying off to meet Guru Pathik. It would also give Azula the foreknowledge of the Dai Li’s control long before she enters Ba Sing Se disguised as the Kyoshi Warriors. An original story like this would give Suki a much more significant role to play but still be able to flow smoothly into Appa’s Lost Days episode in season 2.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming on Netflix today
