The Legend of Korra

The Legend of Korra is an American animated television series set in the Avatar universe as a sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The premiere episode aired on Nickelodeon on April 14, 2012. However, the first two episodes were released online on March 24–25, 2012 and were available in high-definition for free on iTunes. The series is currently under production and is expected to run for two seasons, spanning four books and a total of fifty-two episodes.

The new series takes place seventy years after the end of the Avatar: The Last Airbender story arc with brand new characters and settings. The protagonist of the new series, Korra, the Avatar after Aang, is a hot-headed and rebellious young woman from the Southern Water Tribe who is "ready to take on the world". The series follows Korra as she faces the difficult challenges, duties, and responsibilities that come with being the Avatar.

Book One: Air
After the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko had brought people from the four nations together and founded the United Republic of Nations, with its capital being Republic City, a large "metropolis powered by steampunk-type technology" such as cars and motorcycles. Aang and Katara had three children, the youngest of which was Tenzin, the only airbender of the three siblings. Meanwhile, Toph Beifong had traveled extensively to teach metalbending to other earthbenders. After Aang's death in 153 AG, the Avatar Spirit was reborn and reincarnated into a Southern Water Tribe girl named Korra.

At the present time, seventy years after the end of the Hundred Year War, Korra, a rebellious seventeen year-old girl, is set to complete her airbending training and fulfill her role as the Avatar. She has already mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending by this point. At the beginning of the series, Korra travels to Republic City and starts her airbending training with Tenzin. Tenzin himself is married to Pema. He has two daughters, Jinora, a "bookworm", and Ikki, a "motor-mouth", while Meelo, his first son, was his only son until the tenth episode, "Turning the Tides", when Pema gave birth to another boy named Rohan.



However, Republic City is not what Korra imagined it to be. Anti-benders called "Equalists", who oppose the arts of bending, utilize techniques such as chi blocking to further their goals of revolution, led by Amon. Korra must fight rampant crime and the Anti-bending Revolution, assisted by two brothers, Mako, a firebender, and Bolin, an earthbender. She is also joined by her animal companion, Naga, and the Metalbending Police Force of Republic City, who are led by Toph's daughter, Lin Beifong.

Book Two: Spirits
Six months after the events of the Anti-bending Revolution, Korra, having learned to bend all four elements and achieved status as a Fully Realized Avatar, must once again become the student when she delves into the realm of spirits under her paternal uncle's teachings and tutelage. Now learning the depths of her spiritual connections, Korra soon discovers that light cannot exist without the dark, and in a never ending cycle of creation and destruction, only she has the ability to maintain balance in the world.

Book Three: Change
On November 20, 2013, the series' creators announced that Book Three of The Legend of Korra will be titled "Change", and will explore how the world's energy has shifted since Harmonic Convergence and the battle with Vaatu. It is also confirmed that the team has started post-production on the first few episodes of the new book, which will be set several weeks after the end of Book Two: Spirits and run for a total of thirteen episodes.

Main characters

 * Korra (Janet Varney) is the Avatar immediately succeeding Aang and the main protagonist of the series. She is a talented bender, eager to learn. Hotheaded and rebellious, Korra relishes her role as "The Chosen One". She also has a polar bear dog named Naga as her animal companion.
 * Mako (David Faustino) is a firebender who grew up on the streets of Republic City with his younger brother Bolin, who introduces him to Korra. Tall, lean, and handsome, he was a skilled participant in pro-bending and the former captain of the Fire Ferrets, before becoming a police officer.
 * Bolin (P. J. Byrne) is an earthbender who, along with his brother Mako, becomes friends with Korra. He shares a deep bond with his brother and keeps a fire ferret named Pabu. Bolin is enthusiastic and optimistic and, as a pro-bender, enjoys all the attention he receives from his female fans. His charismatic ways land him a gig as an actor.
 * Asami Sato (Seychelle Gabriel) is the daughter of Hiroshi Sato. Asami has lived a life of luxury, but despite her fancy clothes and polite manners, she has a tough side. She is an expert driver and has had extensive self-defense training. Asami is a "big fan" of pro-bending, and after her father's incarceration, she takes over his company.
 * Tenzin (J.K. Simmons) is the youngest son of Aang and Katara and an airbending master. A calm and serious man, he carries a great burden to protect not only Korra, but also Republic City. Tenzin resides on Air Temple Island with his wife, Pema, and his four children, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and Rohan.
 * Lin Beifong (Mindy Sterling) leads the Metalbending Police Force of Republic City and is the daughter of Toph Beifong. She is tough and uncompromising, believing that the only way to maintain peace and stability in the city is through the use of military might.

Book One characters

 * Amon (Steve Blum) is the main antagonist of the first book of the series. He is the charismatic and mysterious leader of the Equalists, whose ultimate goal is to create equality through an anti-bending revolution. He wears a mask to conceal his face. A nimble and stealthy fighter, Amon is fearless in facing his opponents, regardless of their bending skills, and also forms a great danger for the benders, being able to take their bending away.
 * The Lieutenant (Lance Henriksen) is Amon's second-in-command. He is an intense, disciplined fighter who augments his amazing skills with two electrified kali sticks.
 * Hiroshi Sato (Daniel Dae Kim) is a barrel-chested businessman with a big personality. His family lineage extends back to the first Fire Nation colonists. Hiroshi is a wealthy industrialist, producing Satomobiles from his Future Industries factories. He is later revealed to be working with the Equalists by manufacturing the technology they use to fight, as revenge against all benders for the murder of his wife.
 * Tarrlok (Dee Bradley Baker) is the secondary antagonist of the first book of the series. He is the representative for the Northern Water Tribe on the United Republic Council and also serves as its chairman. Tarrlok seeks to fight the Anti-bending Revolution with violence rather than peaceful negotiation and is willing to go to extreme lengths to win the conflict against the Equalists, even if it means fanning the flames of aggression and risking the lives of innocent people.

Book Two characters

 * Tonraq (James Remar) is Korra's respected warrior father. He was once in line to inherit the chiefdom of the Northern Water Tribe, but left to settle in the South Pole. Despite being an excellent waterbender, he lacks the spiritual connection to his people.
 * Unalaq (Adrian LaTourelle) is the main antagonist of the second book of the series. He is Korra's paternal uncle and current chief of both the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. As a particularly spiritual man, he possesses an extremely strong connection with the Spirit World. He is a firm believer in the old ways of the Water Tribe and a true fundamentalist as far as honoring the spirits is concerned.
 * Desna and Eska (Aaron Himelstein and Aubrey Plaza) are Chief Unalaq's twin children and Korra's cousins. They rarely show emotion and find most people, places, and things very boring. Both are incredible waterbenders and are able to perform amazing feats in tandem. Eska is also the princess of the Northern Water Tribe.
 * Bumi (Richard Riehle) is Tenzin's older brother and the former commander of the United Forces Second Division. Described as being wild by General Iroh, he is a brave man and great strategist, despite having tendencies of childishness that are often directed at his little brother.
 * Kya (Lisa Edelstein) is Tenzin's older sister and the second of Aang and Katara's three children. She is a great waterbender like her mother, and a proficient healer. Although she keeps a clear head in times of distress, she becomes wild and unpredictable around her brothers.
 * Varrick (John Michael Higgins) is the secondary antagonist of the second book of the series. He is an eccentric captain of industry from the Southern Water Tribe, who would go to great lengths to increase his wealth. He spends most of his time traveling around the world on his yacht.

Development


Although the creators of the show had planned an ending to the show, the success of Avatar: The Last Airbender caused Nickelodeon to ask for more episodes. The creators came up with an idea of the next Avatar, this time a girl named Korra. They decided upon a female Avatar due to the large audience of females from the original show and the adoration of the headstrong female characters by the female fan base, and felt it was time to have a big action franchise with a female in the lead instead of the traditional male role.

From April 2010, Nickelodeon began hiring staff for the production for the project. A title for the new mini-series, Avatar: Legend of Korra, was trademarked by Nickelodeon in May 2010 and leaked by the media shortly afterward; more information was revealed in late June 2010, just prior to the release of the feature film . The new show was officially announced at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2010. It is darker and more mature than the original show; however, the creators are not attempting to target a new audience, intending to balance mature themes with a sense of fun and adventure. At that time, it was also announced that the series would run for twelve episodes.



Also reported in July 2010 was that the mini-series was to take place in an all-new setting in a familiar, but changed world. DiMartino and Konietzko stated in an interview that the World of Avatar would be "definitely changed, and evolved, and advanced, but we're very conscious of keeping the same feeling. Not totally different, but it's definitely generations later". Republic City is intended to be the only major location to avoid repeating the around-the-world adventures seen in the original series.

A change in the working title of the show to The Legend of Korra was unveiled in March 2011, along with an announcement that the premiere would be delayed until 2012. On March 7, 2011, part of the voice cast for the series was revealed, and on the next day, an interview with the creators was published announcing that the series had been extended by fourteen episodes, to make a total of 26 episodes for the series. Konietzko stated, "We're really happy with that number. It allows us to focus much more closely on each episode and get a lot more craft into it."

Animation on the first "season" of twelve episodes was underway as of March 2011, with initial development and voice recording for these episodes already completed. In the interview published in March 2011, DiMartino stated, "We've written all the episodes. Episodes have shipped to the overseas animations studios and they're animating away as we speak... All the vocal cast has been picked and recorded and all the scripts have been recorded." The next fourteen episodes are currently under development, while the first book, development having been completed, began to air in April 2012.

In June 2012, the creators stated that Book Two's writing was complete and it was in the process of being animated and storyboarded. According to the creators, half of the season will take place in Republic City and the other half will take place in various locations around the world.

DiMartino also stated in June 2012 that plots were being conceived for possible future seasons, saying, "We have story ideas for past book two. So we will see if and when those stories come to light." However, Konietzko also mentioned in the same interview that it was not up to them to greenlight new seasons.

After averaging 3.8 million viewers for Season One, Book One, The Legend of Korra received an order for 26 more episodes in July 2012, bringing the total number of planned episodes to 52. Bryan Konietzko later confirmed that Book Two would have 14 episodes, followed by Books Three and Four, each one with 13 episodes.

In October 2012, Seychelle Gabriel confirmed that Book Three's preliminary script was complete.

At San Diego Comic-Con 2013, it was announced that Book Two would debut in September 2013. On August 15, 2013, a sneak preview confirmed that the book would debut on September 13 of that year.

As of October 2013, voice work is being carried out for the third and fourth books, the actors having to alternate between the story lines of both seasons. Production for the second book officially ended on November 12, 2013, marking the end of production for the first season.

Casting


In the initial announcement of Legend of Korra in July 2010, there was no mention of the voice casting for the show. For the next seven months, such information was only disseminated by some members of the cast themselves. In an interview in August 2010, Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of Momo and Appa on Avatar: The Last Airbender, confirmed that he would be returning to voice another creature and a character, and that his daughters auditioned for a flashback scene to play five-year old Korra, and one of them received the part. The creature that he voices is Korra's animal guide; the human role has since been stated to be a "complex" recurring character. Dante Basco returned to voice a character. He confirmed via Twitter that his role has something to do with Zuko, and stated that one of the new episodes is entitled "Skeletons in the Closet". Rob Paulsen and Richard Epcar are also stated to be involved in voice work. Following these earlier developments, the identities of most of the main cast were revealed on March 7, 2011.

Music
Jeremy Zuckerman of the Track Team said that he would "absolutely" return to compose the music for the show during a panel at Comic-Con 2010. The Track Team stated that the music for Legend of Korra will consist of "the Roaring '20s with an Asian twist". They described it as "1920s New Orleans jazz but if it were invented in China" at the 2011 Comic-Con. By March 3, 2012, the music had been recorded for the first six episodes and music for the seventh was in the works.

Marketing


After the original announcement in July 2010 yielded only one promotional image, that of Korra overlooking what was tentatively named "Republic City", there was high demand for additional promotional material. After almost eight months of little official information, a piece of concept art showing the face of the main character was revealed for the first time on March 6, 2011. However, the demand for promotional material was more fully answered with a Legend of Korra panel on July 23, 2011 at the San Diego Comic-Con. The panel featured a minute-long trailer containing vistas of the updated World of Avatar and scenes of Korra in combat; artwork was also shown and a variety of plot details were revealed.

Korra Nation
In February 2012, Korra Nation was created as an online fan club and source of new information for The Legend of Korra-related material. Soliciting new users to the site through links and sharing updates sponsored by the site enable users to gain points. Users are entered into draws for prizes once they have gained a certain amount of points. It was through Korra Nation that updated character sketches and episode clips were released to the public. In an interview with the Track Team, it was disclosed that the fifth and sixth episodes will include pro-bending matches. The air date was also released via this promotional effort, and new material continues to be released on a regular basis several times a week. After garnering a certain number of likes and shares, the first two episodes were posted on Korra Nation during the weekend of March 24, 2012. The site continues to release promotional clips for future episodes. The site recently revealed that the online shop at Nickelodeon has released several The Legend of Korra products.

Possible theatrical adaption
Paramount Animation, a subsidiary of the more popularly known, has turned to its sister division Nickelodeon for film inspiration, and one option to hit the big screen is The Legend of Korra. The budget for each pending movie is to be kept around or below $100,000,000.

Bryan Konietzko has since clarified upon the chances of a Korra film, making clear on his personal Tumblr that there is "nothing in development" at this time.

Ratings
The Legend of Korra: Book One earned a commanding 4.3 million viewers per episode on average, placing it as the highest audience total for animated series in 2012.

Trivia

 * Early fan interest in the series was extremely high. Before the first time Nickelodeon decided to rename the show, causing the renaming of this article, over 10,000 comments and 27,000 Facebook "likes" were associated with it. By the time the title was changed back, causing another rename of the article, an additional 10,000 comments were on the page.
 * The title of the new series has undergone some changes. Earliest mentions about a new series spoke of Avatar: Legend of Korra, however, due to an issue with James Cameron's Avatar trademark applications, it was changed to The Legend of Korra. Sources suggested that the title would be Avatar: Legend of Korra, but it was later confirmed that the title would be The Legend of Korra in the United States and Avatar: Legend of Korra for the international version.
 * The Legend of Korra features two title cards in the first season, one of which is used only in the introduction of the first episode, "Welcome to Republic City". All other episodes feature a different title card and a shortened introduction,  much like it was with Avatar: The Last Airbender, although the major part of the opening remained the same.
 * Nickelodeon initially suspended production because they did not like Korra being a female protagonist; however, after seeing the completed first episode, they changed their minds.