Fans of Avatar were enraged earlier this month when Paramount allegedly decided to skip a theatrical release for The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender and have it go straight to streaming on Paramount+.

The decision immediately sparked backlash from the public, many of whom had been eagerly waiting to see an adult Aang on the big screen. As a result, supporters launched a Change.org petition demanding the studio to stick with its original plan to release the film in theaters.

The Legend of Aang campaign quickly gained traction, amassing more than eighteen thousand signatures in a short period of time. The response grew more intense when an emotional comment appeared on the petition by someone claiming to be the film’s director, Steve Ahn. The message seemingly threw everyone under the bus, adding fuel to the fire.

Worked on this film, first leading one of the teams, and eventually directing. Very frustrated about studio ‘higher up’s” decisions. There were A LOT of frustrating, unfair moves by them throughout the entire production that I want to share in the future, but, first, bring this back to theater immediately!!

However, the comment was not actually from the director, it was just an online troll. Ahn quickly addressed the situation on social media. He said that he had been impersonated, and he was not the one who wrote that message. While he expressed gratitude for the passion behind the petition, whoever wrote the post put a lot of real people at risk.

He added that the whole incident could potentially trigger a lot more false information and place an unwarranted amount of pressure on the creative team. Ahn explained that because the impersonator suggested more information would be shared later, he felt compelled to publicly step in and set the record straight before things escalated even further.

At the time of this article’s publication, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender is still being released in October 2026. The film will star Eric Nam (Aang), Steven Yeun (Zuko), Dionne Quan (Toph Beifong), Jessica Matten (Katara), and Román Zaragoza (Sokka). Paramount has also confirmed several supporting actors, including Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Dee Bradley Baker, Peta Sergeant, Freida Pinto, and Ke Huy Quan.