We have long known that the reason the original Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, left the Netflix project was due to “creative differences”. Most fans assumed Netflix wanted to make a ton of changes to the source material, which upset the co-creators and forced their exit in 2020. When, in reality, the opposite happened behind the scenes. We at Knight Edge Media have already written an editorial about Mike and Bryan working on several projects for Avatar Studios, and we touched on their time at Netflix. We contemplated even providing this information because it was so far-fetched and different from the original animated series. Though, as Mike & Bryan always reminded fans, they hated doing “the same thing twice” when developing their various projects. Here are a few massive changes that they floated to their version of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, a source told us:
- Princess Yue would be murdered by an arrow during the Battle of the Northern Water Tribe.
- Uncle Iroh would secretly be working for Firelord Ozai and betray Prince Zuko.
- Firelord Ozai would die by the end of Season 1.
After revealing these few changes on X, it turned out some of them were already part of their original pitch to Nickelodeon for the animated series they were bringing back for Netflix. Specifically, in their pitch deck on the show, they always wanted Uncle Iroh to be an evil double agent for the Fire Nation. In the original pitch deck, it reads for the character of Prince Zuko, “Each day Zuko studies Firebending with his Uncle, the Fire Lord’s brother. Zuko is a powerful Firebender for his age, and he’s eager to develop his skills. But Zuko doesn’t know that Uncle is under strict orders from the Fire Lord to teach his son incorrect Firebending. It’s the Fire Lord’s insurance that his son’s powers never surpass his own.” Obviously, this is a massive departure from the character of Uncle Iroh we saw in the animated series, as the wise and good-natured mentor to Zuko.
However, as this was their original plan for the character, bringing it back for the Netflix series would seriously be a choice. And, something the fans frankly would have absolutely hated. The pitch deck goes on to reveal that Zuko eventually must face his Uncle, not Princess Azula (Prince Azul in the pitch) or Ozai, in their third season titled “Summer”. It should be noted that Ozai is still alive in the original pitch, so it would be assumed in their Netflix version that Iroh becomes Fire Lord with the death of Ozai? Though that is pure speculation. Ultimately, it was head writers Aaron Ehasz (The Dragon Prince) and his then-wife, Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, who pushed back on that “evil” Iroh idea. It was also Netflix that pushed back on these massive character changes that, unfortunately, forced the duo to exit.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is streaming now on Netflix
This isn’t tomorrow’s scoop…but here are the very few changes I heard Mike & Bryan wanted to make
– Princess Yue was going to be shot by an arrow and murdered
– Uncle Iroh would betray Zuko
– Firelord Ozai was going to be killed by the end of Season 1#AvatartheLastAirbender https://t.co/UYisd8wsJz pic.twitter.com/bWsBmZukKH— Caleb Williams (@KnightGambit) January 14, 2026
