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Wall Street Journal‘s “Speakeasy” column shared an update on The Legend of Korra, the follow-up animated series to Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. The update includes a sneak peak of the titular heroine and new Avatar, Korra.

It looks like Nickelodeon has opted to tack on the subtitle of the original series, “The Last Airbender,” as the main title of the sequel series. Instead of using the original main title, Avatar, the sequel series will be named The Last Airbender: The Legend of Korra. Fans had assumed the series would be named Avatar: The Legend of Korra similarly to how the original series is titled Avatar: The Legend of Aang in the United Kingdom.

(Yes, we know. Even though the “last airbender” subtitle in the original series refers to Aang and not Korra, even if the name recognition of the film adaptation is riddled with negative juju, and even though it makes about as much sense as naming the sequels things like A New Hope: The Empire Strikes Back or The Two Towers: Return of the King.)

According to WSJ blogger CJ Farley, the series will not be released until 2012, so maybe the title will change by then.

Farley also announced the series’ lead voice cast in a follow up post:

Janet Varney as KORRA
Kiernan Shipka as JINORA
Daniel Dae Kim as HIROSHI SATO
David Faustino as MAKO
Seychelle Gabriel as ASAMI
Lance Henriksen as LIEUTENANT
P.J. Byrne as BOLIN
JK Simmons as TENZIN

Previously announced voice cast members on The Legend of Korra include A:TLA alumni Dee Bradley Baker (Appa/Momo) and Dante Basco (Zuko), as well as Rob Paulson (Pinky and the Brain) and Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest)

The character of Mako appears to be named after the legendary voice actor Mako Iwamatsu (Uncle Iroh), who passed away before the original A:TLA trilogy was completed. To learn more about Mako, read our article: The Old Masters: The Legacy of Mako Iwamatsu.

EDIT: WSJ-Speakeasy now has an interview with Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. ‘The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra’: The Creators Speak

“We wanted to create a new Avatar that was completely the opposite of Aang. So, whereas Aang was the peaceful, nomadic Airbender guy, she’s very tough, very headstrong, not scared to get into a fight, and kind of picks fights with people too sometimes. So she’s definitely totally the opposite of Aang so it has been kind of fun to write her character and put her in situations that Aang never would have gotten into.”

Categories: blog, Featured, The Last Airbender
Tags: Legend of Korra