The Fantasy Series That Avatar: The Last Airbender Fans Need To Watch On Netflix
With the hit animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender finally making its way to Netflix, fans continue to rewatch, theorize about the show, and praise it for its accomplishments. But what do you do when you finish rewatching it for the tenth time? While Netflix may be producing a second attempt at a live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender (despite the failure and disappointment of the first), in the meantime, there's another popular animated show to hold your attention.
Netflix has had a lot of success producing wonderful animated programs that take on adult topics and bring new representation to the genre. Whether it's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia, or any of the many other amazing animated series, there's something on Netflix for everyone to watch. But if you're a fan of Avatar, there's one show in particular that's right up your alley: The Dragon Prince.
The series has quite a few direct connections to the Nickelodeon hit. The co-creator of The Dragon Prince, Aaron Ehasz, was a head writer on Avatar, and one of the directors, Giancarlo Volpe, directed 19 episodes of Avatar. Along with that, The Dragon Prince has done consistently well with both critics and audiences. Revolving around a group of young friends in a fantasy world called Xadia, the series follows them as they take on the trials of their magical world and the obstacles of growing up.
What you need to know about Netflix's The Dragon Prince
The Dragon Prince premiered on Netflix in September 2018. The show follows Ezran (Sasha Rojen), the 10-year-old crown prince of Xadia, who has the power to speak with animals. He has an older half-brother, 14-year-old Callum (Jack De Sena), a human learning to wield magic. Eager to expand their power, the human king Harrow of Katolis ((Luc Roderique) and his scheming advisor Viren (Jason Simpson), a user of dark magic, kill the dragon king. When they find the egg of the dragon prince, the brothers, along with a 15-year-old elf assassin named Rayla (Paula Burrows), must protect and return it to its kingdom so that the dragon prince may rule.
When the show premiered, its creators revealed a lot about The Dragon Prince in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. They confirmed that many characters are Asian-coded — meaning they are "equivalent to Asians, even though Asia does not exist in this fantasy world," as user u/DavidL1112 eloquently put it — and that Ezran and Callum are bi-racial. One character, the brothers' aunt Amaya, is deaf, and the series' creators used ASL interpreters to make sure they portrayed her accurately.
The Dragon Prince is fantastic and diverse, with a great adventure story to lose yourself in. The show has had three seasons so far, and in July 2020, Netflix announced that there will be four more seasons, with nine episodes each. Along with that, the show's universe is expanding with a graphic novel and tabletop role-playing game, both of which are in development now.
Why The Dragon Prince will resonate with Avatar: The Last Airbender fans
Aside from the fact that the co-creator of The Dragon Prince had a big hand in shaping Avatar: The Last Airbender, the two shows also share voice actors. De Sana, who voices Callum, also voices fan-favorite Avatar character Sokka. Along with that, Erik Dellums, who voices Koh the face stealer in Avatar, takes on the role of another mystical figure named Aaravos in The Dragon Prince.
The Dragon Prince also includes plenty of great references to Avatar: The Last Airbender. In the first episode, one character reads from a book called Love Amongst the Dragons, which Zuko mentions as a story from his childhood. One fan on Reddit highlighted this and another reference about Sokka, but there are plenty more. It's clear that The Dragon Prince employs the same humor as Avatar, and the characters are just as deep and interesting.
At their core, the two shows share many main themes and characteristics. Both deal with corrupt leaders, the trauma of war, and taking on huge responsibility, with a lush and extensive mythology at its base. They're also both divided into "books," each chapter designated with an element. For Avatar, it's the four elements benders control, while The Dragon Prince uses the show's six elements of magic: Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Sky, and Ocean. The Dragon Prince is a show that stands on its own, but with all of the connections to Avatar: The Last Airbender, it's even more special to fans of the hit animated series.