Several weeks ago, we at Knight Edge Media shared some of the first plot details for Avatar Studios’ scrapped Firelord Zuko film. We revealed the film would be a dark political thriller set shortly after the 100-Year War, featuring an assassination attempt on Zuko and Iroh by a mysterious assassin. The film would also delve deeper into Zuko’s relationship with Azula post-war. Beyond that, not much else was known at the time.
We have now learned that this entire film was going to be the origin story of The Red Lotus. The anarchist faction of The White Lotus that was first introduced in arguably the best season of The Legend of Korra, season 3. The main issue they had was developing half a script with multiple rewrites while already beginning pre-viz and voiceover work. As a small team was working on the Zuko film in the early stages of the Avatar Aang production. Another problem was that they really wanted this to be an Azula/Zuko story, but it kept morphing into a Zuko/Iroh story. Either way, the story would focus on Xai Bau, the founder of the Red Lotus. The film would have revealed he was a long-lost friend of Uncle Iroh during their time in the 100-Year War. Iroh and Xai Bau would have joined the Fire Nation military together and fully believed in conquering the other nations.
Eventually, Xai Bau and Iroh both joined the White Lotus and found the dragons Ran & Shaw together. Xai Bau’s never shared the same ideals with Iroh and was very pro-Fire Nation as a country. Iroh had a change of heart on the war following the death of his son, Lu Ten. Xai Bau developed the philosophical idea that nations shouldn’t have divine rulers and despised the Fire Nation monarchy. He secretly wanted the Fire Nation to conquer the world and overthrow the world leaders. Then he would overthrow the Fire Nation monarchy. He wanted to create true chaos and give the world back to the people, believing this was the only way to save every nation. This same anarchist sentiment is what Zaheer tries to accomplish when he murders the Earth Queen in The Legend of Korra season 3.
As it’s already been revealed, Xai Bau leaves the White Lotus because he believes they became solely focused on helping the Avatar instead of being a secret force for the people of all nations. He then begins his mission to create the Order of the Red Lotus faction to fulfill his lifelong dream of a world without divine rulers. Fast-forward to the start of the film, and Xai Bau is the assassin behind the murders of Raw & Shaw, since he is the only other person to know their location. As well as the assassination attempts on Uncle Iroh and Firelord Zuko. Xai Bau finds Firelord Zuko working with Avatar Aang to unify the world, a direct threat to the anarchist world he wants to create. The film would have concluded with Uncle Iroh and Xai Bau in a final confrontation in the Spirit World. There were discussions of Iroh dying in the film, but the creative team pushed back internally. This is speculation, but the film may have introduced a new way to physically enter the Spirit World even before Harmonic Convergence. So, Iroh could have simply stayed in the Spirit World instead of actually “dying.” He is next seen helping Korra in The Legend of Korra season 2.
As we previously reported, a new actress had already signed on to voice Azula. The hardest part for the writers was creating an arc for Azula in this story that really focuses on Iroh’s past. After she escapes prison, the studio threw around the idea that Azula would be a founding member of the Red Lotus or have a redemption arc to help save Zuko and Iroh. In the end, they decided Azula wouldn’t have done either, since she isn’t an anarchist and believes ruling over people is her birthright. While this is speculation, Azula most likely helped Zuko and Iroh and keep the Royal Family alive for her own evil purposes to one day rule herself, not for any altruistic reason. The second issue was whether a young Zaheer had a prominent role in the film or just cameos as Xai Bau builds his Red Lotus acolytes. Finally, another small problem was whether Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors would serve as Zuko’s royal guard, but that was quickly scrapped. (Concept art was seen during the Avatar Aang credits)
We learned that multiple screenwriters came in to rewrite the script. The studio never finalized a script, and Paramount paused the entire production. As previously documented, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender had numerous behind-the-scenes issues, including going over budget. Essentially, mismanagement of Avatar Aang by Avatar Studios and its overtly dark political plot killed the film. Paramount really sees the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise as a kid-friendly property, not anything like this film would have been. It’s unknown whether the studio will ever revisit this storyline, as it has shifted its focus entirely toward only animated shows in this universe.
Firelord Zuko has no set release date
