As fans dive into Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, they might start to feel the itch to revisit the cartoon. Of course, with eight live-action episodes and 61 total cartoon episodes, moments from the live-action’s first season come from all over the cartoon map. To help out viewers, we’ve compiled a list of which Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon episodes correspond to the eight live-action episodes of the Netflix series. It’s a more complex map than you might think. Yip, yip! It’s time to explore which cartoon episodes inspired and made it into the live-action series.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode One of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
Episode one of the Netflix live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series, “Aang,” is one of the more straightforward episodes of the series as far as cartoon references are concerned. This episode chiefly adapts the first three episodes of the ATLA cartoon’s Book One: Water. It sets up the characters of Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko. From Aang’s emergence into the world to Zuko’s menacing of the Southern Water Tribe to Aang’s fraught discoveries at the abandoned Northern Air Temple, it’s the closest the live-action series gets to a straight retelling of the cartoon.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Two of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
In episode two, Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series begins its remixing of the cartoon in earnest. Of course, since the episode is called “Warriors” and takes place on Kyoshi Island, it naturally borrows from the season one cartoon episode “The Warriors of Kyoshi.” But, in addition to this, it adds in details from later episodes. It even reaches into Books Two and Three of the cartoon. For instance, in episode two of the live-action, Katara reveals Gran Gran gave her a waterbending scroll. In the cartoon, that arrives in the picture only in episode nine. Additionally, in the cartoon, Kyoshi doesn’t make her first actual appearance until Book Two. Her presence in season one, episode two of the live-action series, brings information only discovered much later in the animated show.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Three of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
Episode three of the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action adaptation kicks its cartoon reimagining into high gear. It smartly brings together many stand-alone Earth Kingdom characters into one tale. In the cartoon, fans met figures such as Jet, the Mechanist, and Bumi in their own separate episodic outings. But there’s no room for that in live-action, and the series instead combos all these cartoon figures into a singular narrative. It’s a great way to handle the number of characters Avatar has without cutting too many of them from the screen. Here’s what episode three, “Omashu,” entailed.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Four of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
Episode four of the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series continues the Earth Kingdom remix. It brings Bumi to the table as well as concluding the stories of Jet and the Mechanist for now. This episode titled, “Into the Dark,” also brings in Earth Kingdom lore from Book Two of the live-action and cleverly mixes in parts of Zuko and Iroh’s journey as well.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Five of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
Episode five of the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series, aptly titled “Spirited Away,” takes us out of Omashu and into the Spirit World. The episode has a firm basis in the cartoon’s season one episode, “Winter Solstice, Part 1.” But in this episode, the live-action also spiritually adapts and literally references many other Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon outings. We especially enjoy the slew of cartoon episodes name-dropped at the Earth Kingdom bar as the locals share the tales they heard of the Avatar in this live-action episode, “Spirited Away.”
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Six of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
Two of the best cartoon episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, “The Storm” and the “Blue Spirit,” converge to create episode six of the live-action adaptation, “Masks.” The show hits some great notes as its focus shifts to Zuko’s backstory and his complex relationship with the Fire Nation and Avatar Aang.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Seven of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
As the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series starts to draw to a close, it focuses on specific cartoon episodes once again. But, even still, a few other inspirations creep in to complete the live-action chapter.
The Cartoon Episodes Adapted in Episode Eight of the Avatar: The Last Airbender Live-Action
The final episode of Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series is a straightforward retelling of the two final episodes of the cartoon’s Book One: Water and the battle of the North Pole. But it does bring a little season two twist to the table.
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