11 Years Ago, Avatar: The Last Airbender’s Sequel Controversially Ended (And Fans Have Been Debating It Ever Since)

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As a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I still remember how shocked everyone was when its sequel, The Legend of Korra, ended over a decade ago! Avatar was a massive hit for Nickelodeon, and when they announced Korra four years later, we were all so excited. But honestly, Korra just didn’t quite capture the magic of the original, and its ending, while not super loud, really split the fanbase. It’s still something people talk about and debate all these years later!

The final episode of The Legend of Korra aired on December 19, 2014, but it wasn’t on Nickelodeon television. Instead, it was released exclusively online through the Nickelodeon website – a platform that wasn’t really designed for streaming at the time. This unusual finale caused a lot of controversy among fans and effectively stalled the franchise for many years, and the impact of that decision is still felt today, over a decade later.

What Happened With The Legend of Korra?

From the start, The Legend of Korra faced a tough challenge. Coming a few years after Avatar: The Last Airbender ended, it introduced a new Avatar, Korra, and a world that had changed significantly. While it continued the story, the series wasn’t heavily connected to the original characters because it was set many years later. However, this distance is actually a key part of what makes the show unique.

Korra became the Avatar after Aang passed away, inheriting the responsibility of revealing details about his life that fans were eager to learn. However, she also faced her own challenges, as the world had changed significantly for those with bending abilities since Aang’s era. As Korra developed her own unique story and moved away from simply filling Aang’s shoes, some viewers who were primarily interested in his story began to lose interest in the show.

The show really struggled during its third season. While ratings were already down from the first season, a major leak of the first seven episodes happened before Season 3 even aired. When the episodes finally premiered on TV, the ratings were so low that Nickelodeon pulled the remaining episodes from the broadcast schedule. Instead, they released them only on their website – and this was before they had a good online streaming service in place.

I watched as The Legend of Korra really struggled. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender weren’t thrilled with it, and that big leak before season three felt like a major blow. While it did get a fourth season, it was released only online, through Nickelodeon’s website and digital platforms. That completely stopped any chance of building excitement for the finale, and honestly, even great reviews couldn’t have saved it from ending on a pretty quiet note.

The Legend of Korra Didn’t Have a Chance

This release was already causing disagreement, and the finale of The Legend of Korra also led to a lot of discussion among fans. Especially in the later seasons, the relationship between Korra and Asami grew increasingly close, hinting at a possible romance. The creators, Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, strongly implied a deeper connection between the two characters, but couldn’t explicitly show it on screen at that time.

Often, when fans ‘ship’ characters – wanting them to become a couple – it rarely happens officially, at least not in the way the show’s creators intended. But with ‘Korrasami,’ the romantic connection between Korra and Asami was heavily implied throughout the series. The final episode strongly suggested they were becoming a couple, though the show never explicitly confirmed it on screen. While this was later addressed in comic books, many fans felt it didn’t deliver the confirmation they were hoping for during the original series run.

It feels like The Legend of Korra didn’t get the appreciation it deserved. Many now remember it more for the funny SpongeBob ads that ran during its more serious episodes, and it took Avatar: The Last Airbender a long time to bounce back from its conclusion. It wasn’t until ten years later that Avatar Studios was created to develop a new movie and continuation of the story. Unfortunately, the recent ending of the sequel series has led to the decision to release all future content exclusively on streaming platforms.

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2025-12-24 22:11