The Legend of Korra

The Legend of Korra is an American television series set in the Avatar universe as a spin-off of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The premiere aired on Nickelodeon on April 14, 2012; however, the first two episodes premiered online on March 24–25, 2012 and were available in high-definition for free of charge on iTunes. The series is currently under production and is expected to run for two seasons and a total of twenty-six episodes, with options for more. The co-creators of the original series, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, will personally write all of the episodes to allow for a tighter storyline.

The new series takes place seventy years after the end of the Avatar: The Last Airbender story arc with 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 will follow Korra as she faces an anti-bender revolt while mastering the art of airbending from Aang and Katara's son, Tenzin.

Plot overview
After the conclusion of the Hundred Year War, Aang and Zuko 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 traveled extensively to teach metalbending. After Aang's death, the next Avatar, Korra, was born in the Southern Water Tribe.

At the present time, seventy years after the end of the War, Korra is a rebellious seventeen year-old girl. As the Avatar, she has already mastered waterbending, earthbending, and firebending. 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 youngest child, is currently his only son. Pema is currently pregnant with the couple's fourth child.



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-bender revolt, assisted by two brothers, Mako, a firebender, and Bolin, an earthbender. She is also joined by her animal guide, Naga, and the metalbending police force of Republic City, who are led by Toph's daughter, Lin Beifong.

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 guide.
 * 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 is a skilled participant in pro-bending and the captain of the Fire Ferrets, of which Korra and Bolin are members.
 * 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 girl fans.
 * 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 pregnant wife, Pema, and his three children, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo.
 * Amon (Steve Blum) 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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 an Equalist and manufacturing the technology they use to fight benders.
 * 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.
 * Katara (Eva Marie Saint) is now old; many years have passed since her adventures in the original series. Her wisdom is invaluable to Korra, and she has become her waterbending teacher.

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 then 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 to hire 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 to be 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 will be set 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 "season", development having been completed, began to air in April 2012.



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 will voice is Korra's animal guide; the human role has since been stated to be a "complex" recurring character. Dante Basco stated that he would return 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 "Skeleton 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 is currently being worked on for the seventh.

Marketing


After the original announcement in July 2010 yielded only one promotional image, that of Korra overlooking what was then 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 then 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 tournaments. 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 continued to release promotional clips for future episodes.

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 has now been confirmed that the title will 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.