Ahead of the premiere of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, the cast and crew of the film participated in a Thursday panel at San Diego Comic-Con and revealed concept art and character designs.*
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender takes place between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, specifically 13 years after the end of the Hundred Year War. Aang learns about an ancient power that could save the Airbenders from extinction, sending he and his friends on a worldwide mission to find it before someone with nefarious aims gets to it first.
The SDCC panel featured co-creators and producers Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, director Lauren Montgomery, and cast members Eric Nam (Aang), Jessica Matten (Katara), Román Zaragoza (Sokka), Dionne Quan (Toph), and Dave Bautista (Tagah).
During the discussion, they revealed art for the newly-rebuilt Republic City and in-universe calligraphy variations. It’s interesting to see Republic City’s early planning development and what vision Team Avatar had in mind before it became the metropolitan area audiences know from Korra.
The panel also revealed stylized background designs, which are painterly and realistically textured. Having dabbled with visual development, I’m impressed at how life-like they are. The fact that the art was all done traditionally with 2D animation is even more awe-inspiring.
Avatar Aang costume designs
Aang
Then, the panel revealed costume designs for Avatar Aang. Audiences got to see adult Aang and his various costume designs variations, including concept art going as far back as December 2021. The designers revealed they wanted something that still very much resembled Aang, while containing a few elements that would resemble his son, Tenzin. It’s inspiring to see the evolution of Aang’s design and how it evolved over time in development.
At first, it’s apparent the artists wanted to use Aang’s iconic beard from Legend of Korra, but they seemed to think it was a better decision to keep that out as design progressed. The different costume variations help solidify his identity as not only the last Airbender, but also a monk.
Katara
We also got our first look at Katara’s design. It was revealed early during development that she was once intended to be pregnant in the movie, which is reflected in this art, but the creators pivoted from that choice.
What I really like about her new aesthetic is that, as an adult, her body has changed; she doesn’t look childish, which some adult women do in other animated projects. I especially like how the designers experimented with her braided hair, and the different variations of her water tribe attire as it was inspired by real life Inuit and Yupik Indigenous fashion designs.
Sokka
Sokka’s adult designs include several potential hairstyles and associated facial expressions. Like with Katara, artist Katie Silva draws inspiration from Inuit and Yupik Indigenous cultures for Sokka’s new garments, which suit him well.
Toph
Originally, the Avatar Aang team wanted Toph’s design to show her in her Metalbender police phase, but decided instead to explore other aesthetics. Given the ongoing conversation about depictions of police in pop culture and real-life police violence, this feels like a wise choice.
Toph’s new costume design makes her feel more grounded (no pun intended) and it’s great to see her signature hairstyle hasn’t changed.
Zuko
The Avatar Aang panel also revealed character design sheets for Zuko. According to Montgomery, some of his original designs felt a little too fantasy-based, but they were inspirational towards the final design for his adult character.
These designs really lean into the Fire Nation aesthetic, but are clearly distant from its fascist design choices in ATLA. Zuko wanted to rebuild the Fire Nation from the ground up and forged his own path. He tore down everything his father, Ozai, built or tried to take. His Avatar Aang look represents that.
I also love the different variations of his hair and garments, which seem to be inspired by the Pacific Islands.
Tagah
And finally, there was a showcase for Tagah, Dave Bautista’s Airbender character. Originally, Tagah was an Earthbender named Hulong, but the team shifted his powers and look accordingly. They wanted to film a balance between making him a monk but also very physically strong and large at the same time.
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is now streaming on Paramount+.
Photos by Kalai Chik unless otherwise specified
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from SDCC ’26.
* The Beat is aware of claims regarding ChatGPT usage by someone on the Avatar Aang team. We are following the story and will report on it separate from this panel coverage.
