Posted 3 minutes agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret Down"Avatar: The Last Airbender" Creators Reflect On 20 Years Of Aang, Favorite Episodes, And The Iconic FinaleFrom early inspirations to the unforgettable conclusion, the minds behind Avatar open up about the creative journey.by Andrew FirrioloBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink "Water, earth, fire, air." Twenty years ago, the world was introduced to Avatar: The Last Airbender - the Nickelodeon series that would go on to become one of the most beloved animated shows of all time. Nickelodeon Animation Studios To celebrate two decades of Aang's unforgettable journey, I sat down with creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino to reflect on the show's origins, its iconic finale, and the legacy Avatar continues to build.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. BuzzFeed: Throughout the early process of developing the show, did you each have a moment where you knew Avatar would be big?Mike: I don't think we knew it was going to be big, but there was a night Bryan came over to my house, where he had a bunch of ideas. That's where the thought of the four nations started coalescing, and the world became a little clearer.
It was around two weeks that we were developing the idea. By the end of that, we knew we had something cool and interesting. Did we know we'd be talking about it twenty years later? Not really, but I think we knew we were onto something! Asha Mone / Via Nickelodeon L-R: Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko. Bryan: At that point, we hadn't even pitched Avatar yet; whether or not a network would invest money in the idea was to be seen. But that two-week period was incredibly intense and inspiring. I'm old enough to know those inspirational moments are pretty rare, especially between two people, seeing the potential and shaping it together.I always say, when inspiration calls, pick up the phone - you never know if it will ever call back! I think we knew we had something special, but it was a long journey to manifest it and get it through all the corporate levels. We're still on that journey!BuzzFeed: The world of Avatar is incredibly vast. Did you have someone helping keep continuity throughout the show?Bryan: Back then, it was just Mike and me - that was kind of our job. Now we do, because we're caretakers of a much larger franchise, and we have projects in animation, publishing, and games. We have an executive editor who is very familiar with the world, especially our published content. One of our people at Avatar Studios grew up on Avatar, and he has a very good memory. He's sort of our resident fact-checker!Mike: When we did the original series, it wasn't too hard to keep track of it all. It was just me, Bryan, and the writers, looking over everything, making sure it all made sense. Nickelodeon / Via Tiffany Chao The world of Avatar came to life at NYCC, October 2025. BuzzFeed: Avatar's finale is considered one of the greatest endings of all time. Did you always know how the story would end?Bryan: When we got to the end of the series, I went back and looked at our "Development Bible," and it was surprising! I hadn't really looked at it in a couple of years at that point. Not to take away from the writers' or artists' ideas, or even our newer ideas, but there was a lot of stuff from that "Development Bible" that we did know. For example, the detail of Aang cocooning himself in the stone during the Ozai fight was in there. Nickelodeon Animation Studios We had other wacky ideas in that Bible that we left behind. We definitely didn't have every single thing mapped out, but we knew there would be a counter-invasion in Book Three. We knew Aang would face Ozai during the comet, and Ozai would have supercharged firebending.
Mike: We had the broad strokes of the structure of the series figured out. We had the device of Aang needing to master the elements - he'll study water, and then he's gonna learn earth and do something in the Fire Nation, and learn fire. That stuck through.
We had ideas for certain episodes. Of course, there were many episodes to fill in, so things get fleshed out and expanded on. Many new ideas not in the "Development Bible" came to fruition in the show. But it's cool to look back and think, "Oh yeah, we thought of that early on!" Nickelodeon Animation Studios BuzzFeed: How did you decide on the ending? I remember being on the edge of my seat, trying to predict how Aang would handle the Fire Lord.
Mike: It came out of Aang's character and his culture. He's from this monastic, non-violent community, and those are his values. He was always trying to make peace between people who were fighting. At the end, the other characters assume he will kill Ozai, but that goes against everything Aang believes in. We recently re-watched the finale with some people at Nickelodeon, and that idea resonates through those four episodes. It's this weight he feels of trying to find another way.
The lion-turtle idea