Today, a new report announced that Paramount Global has begun considering selling off its Nickelodeon TV show rights for several major IPs to secure EU approval for its Warner Brothers acquisition. While the report doesn’t specify which rights could be up for sale, it did mention that it would be their “children’s assets” from Viacom & Nickelodeon to acquire Cartoon Network. Besides SpongeBob SquarePants, the other big franchise still making animated content is Avatar: The Last Airbender, under the newly formed Avatar Studios. While the Avatar IP was not specifically name-dropped, it could be first on the list to be let go by the studio.
It’s no surprise that Avatar Studios has been turbulent since its inception in 2021. The biggest issue has been under the executive leadership of Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konetinko; projects aren’t being released as originally intended. We already know that the film The Legend of Aang was pushed back several times and ultimately removed from theaters entirely for a future Paramount+ release. This massive change led to a hacking breach, and the entire film leaked online for everyone to see for free. The leakers apparently also have a copy of their next animated series, Avatar: Seven Havens, waiting in the wings to be released as well (via The Hollywood Reporter). A rumor exists that the series has been done since early 2025 and that they have been sitting on the show this entire time (via X). Finally, the long-in-development open-world AAA video game by Saber Interactive was announced to be completely dead after its original announcement in 2024 (via IGN). We at Knight Edge Media learned that the studio had several other animated shows in development in early 2025, but their status is now unknown. Simply put, nothing has gone according to plan for Avatar Studios.
It should come as no surprise that Mike & Bryan are incredibly progressive in their work on Avatar. From the inclusion of imperialism and genocide in the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series to the addition of same-sex couples in The Legend of Korra. They even went on to completely recast the original voice actors in The Legend of Aang movie to better reflect the ethnicities of the characters they portrayed, compared to the original cast, to the dismay of many fans. Friction was inevitable under the incredibly right-wing leadership of Paramount and its CEO, David Ellison. We at Knight Edge Media have heard over the last year that there has been some back-and-forth between Mike & Bryan and Paramount about how to run Avatar Studios. One rumor we heard from two separate sources was that it has gotten so bad at Avatar Studios that one of the two was removed by Paramount leadership from the day-to-day production of all animated content and forced to work only on the lore/history side of the universe until their contract expires. As well as the awful working conditions and unrealistic expectations for the animators. However, we could not verify this. Paramount may ship them off to another company just to avoid working with them again. Which leads us to the question of which studio would even want the Avatar: The Last Airbender rights?
Some might think that Walt Disney or Apple TV+ would consider acquiring this massive IP. However, Netflix would be the obvious choice after the massive numbers the animated series delivered to the streaming network during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (via Forbes). As well as the semi-ok reception of the live-action adaptation in 2024 and its return later this month. However, once again, Mike & Bryan did not have a gracious exit from the live-action series when they were still attached as showrunners. So, while they seem to have made up for it, Mike DiMartino did appear at the TV show’s premiere back in 2024. Netflix or any studio might not actually want to work with the duo, and thus could mean the end of any more Avatar content before it even really began. It would be ironic that, after all these years, Mike & Bryan end up under Netflix’s leadership once again, but might count their blessings given their current history with Paramount.
The Legend of Aang movie is currently slated to hit Paramount+ this October
Hard truth…
I can speak freely because I’m 65 years old and my pocketful of fucks is seriously depleted.
Working as a paralegal at various studios in LA for thirty years…I had the opportunity to observe studio executives closely.
They’re generally a slippery and clueless… https://t.co/etyCYk7MDc
— Greg Baldwin (@GregBaldwinIroh) June 6, 2026
Source: Bloomberg
