There is no shortage of iconic Nickelodeon shows, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is something special, but despite its sizable fanbase, there’s a lot that people don’t know about the franchise. The Last Airbender is often hailed as one of the “greatest cartoons of all time”, offering viewers something completely different from Nickelodeon’s usual roster of programs at the time.

With mature writing, gorgeous animation, fully realized characters, and high-concept world-building, The Last Avatar became a massive commercial and critical hit, adored by kids, teenagers, and adults. Spanning three seasons and 61 episodes, creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino managed to capture lightning in a bottle.

And since then, the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender has grown exponentially with spin-off sequel shows starring Aang’s successor, Korra, a film that revisits Aang’s story as a mature adult, and even live-action adaptations and adaptations in various formats such as games and comics.

The Show Almost Aired Without Zuko

Despite his relentless attempts to hunt down Aang for the first two seasons, Zuko ended up becoming perhaps the biggest fan-favorite of The Last Airbender. His arc, from a hate-filled prince who is desperate to win his father’s approval to a confident leader who earns his nation’s trust, is one of the most fulfilling of the show’s run.

Given his significance and popularity, it’s astounding to learn that the show almost aired without Zuko at all, as the young Prince of the Fire Nation was one of the last characters to be written in. Originally, the writers had intended the Fire Lord to be the big bad of all three seasons. However, they soon realized that they couldn’t do enough with the Fire Lord just sitting on his throne, and wrote in Zuko’s character instead.

Toph Was Originally A Muscular Man

Toph is one of the most powerful earthbenders in the history of the series and is responsible for inventing the technique of metalbending. That fact that she’s small but powerful gave Toph enormous appeal, but this iconic earthbender came close to ending up with a very different look.

Initially, the writers’ plan was to make Toph a huge man with the physique of someone like Hulk Hogan or the Rock. The character wasn’t initially written as being blind either and was even pitched as a potential love interest for Katara. The idea was eventually scrapped.

Azula Could Have Had An Arranged Marriage

Another powerful female bender was Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation and older sister of Zuko. As the daughter of the Fire Lord, Azula exhibited immense strength, and a sadistic, evil attitude to go along with it. Given her authoritative and insidious nature, it’s almost unthinkable for her to get romantically involved with anyone in the show, but that’s exactly what the writers intended to happen towards the tail end of Book Three.

One of the subplots of the final season was going to involve Azula being set up in an arranged marriage. However, the writers didn’t think there was enough meat to the story and scrapped the idea. It would have been unfortunate for the viewers, and even more unfortunate for anyone who wound up with Azula.

Lake Laogai is Based on a Real Chinese Labor Camp

One of the best episodes came towards the end of the second season with “Lake Laogai.” In it, Aang and the group run into former antagonist Jet, who’s been psychologically conditioned in a secret underground lab led by a faction of the Earth Kingdom. Though “Lake Laogai” is a thrilling episode, it’s also one of the most culturally relevant, because the underground prison camp is inspired by a real place.

In Chinese, Laogai is short for Laodong gaizao, a term that actually means “reform through labor”. Laodong gaizao was also the name of a Chinese political prison camp used in the 50’s and 60’s. Hundreds of political prisoners were sent to this camp and psychologically conditioned, much like the fictional underground base in “Lake Laogai.”

The Tale of Two Irohs

The entire cast of The Last Airbender did a phenomenal job in bringing their characters to life, but legendary voice actor Mako Iwamatsu (known simply as Mako) did an especially nice job with Uncle Iroh. Powerful, wise, and commanding, Mako was the perfect choice to play the jovial firebender who had a dark history and provided the emotional backbone of the series.

However, tragedy struck in the middle of season two when Mako unfortunately passed away from esophageal cancer. In a scramble, Nickelodeon tried replacing the actor the quickest and best they could. They accomplished that task by hiring Greg Baldwin, Mako’s understudy. The actor did such a fine job filling in that some years later he also took over Mako’s role of Aku for the fifth and final season of Samurai Jack.

The Boy In The Iceberg Is The Live Action Movie

The Last Airbender is a sweeping epic with limitless world-building and fully-realized characters. With such rich material to mine from, it would only make sense that the series would eventually be adapted into a live-action film. The 2010 adaptation, directed by none other than big-time director M. Night Shyamalan, was almost universally disliked for the changes it made to the source material.

The movie’s failure is foreshadowed in “The Boy in the Iceberg,” the fictional Fire Nation play from the show that retells Aang’s story. Embarrassed, the gang describes the play as bad but with decent effects, which is largely how audiences described the 2010 movie as well.

Mark Hamill Voiced The Fire Lord

Though the audience doesn’t see a lot of him until the third season, Fire Lord Ozai is one of the most powerful benders of the series. He’s the incarnation of pure evil, a domineering, sadistic ruler who is consumed only with rage and power. He’s the kind of malevolent bad guy who scars his son for simply speaking out of turn or burns down the entire Earth Kingdom just to prove a point.

With such a big and scary personality, Nickelodeon was tasked with finding a voice that could provide the right candor to bring this evildoer to life. They found it in none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. Hamill, who had past experience with bringing animated bad guys to life with the Joker, was the perfect choice for Ozai, whose voice is just as fierce as the fire he bends.

Co-creator Michael DiMartino Left Family Guy to Work on Last Airbender

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The Last Airbender is a kid-friendly adventure program and Family Guy is an adult-based comedy with some particularly raunchy humor, but the two shows actually have a little in common. One of the co-creators of Airbender, Michael DiMartino, worked on Family Guy for years, directing and writing a number of episodes. DiMartino eventually left the Fox sitcom in 2002 in order to spend his time on his passion project, The Last Airbender.

Prior to creating the Nickelodeon cartoon with Bryan Konietzko, DiMartino worked for 12 years at Film Roman, during which time he worked on Family Guy and also directed several episodes of another Fox program, King of the Hill. Konietzko and DiMartino have also worked on other Nickelodeon shows over the years, including cult-favorite Invader Zim.

The Show Was Going to Take Place Thousands of Years in the Future

The Last Airbender was first conceived in 2001 by Bryan Konietzko off nothing more than his sketch of a bald kid herding bison in the sky. He showed the drawing to fellow animator Michael DiMartino and the pair soon began work on a concept about an “air guy” with some “water people” who were getting pressed down on by some “fire people”.

That barebones concept is a far cry from the final product. However, even stranger is that during this early stage, Konietzko and DiMartino were tinkering with the idea of placing the world of Avatar thousands of years into the future! The pair decided to scrap the sci-fi concept in favor of the older time period in which the show is set.

The Comics Reveal the Fate of Zuko’s Mother

The fate of Zuko’s mother Ursa is the biggest unsolved mystery of The Last Airbender. While the writers were intending on solving that question in the series finale, there just wasn’t enough time, and the idea was ultimately scrapped. Thankfully, that lingering question was answered in The Promise, The Search, and Smoke and Shadow, a series of comics that take place after the show and detail Ursa’s upbringing, her past love, her marriage to Ozai, and, eventually, her disappearance.

Although it’s hinted at in the show, it’s revealed that Ursa was responsible for poisoning Ozai’s father so that her husband could claim the throne. After she’s banished, she’s granted a new identity by a mystical being and starts a new family. She’s finally given the happy ending she deserves when Zuko meets up with her and ends her banishment once and for all.