At a recent San Diego Comic-Con panel, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender director Lauren Montgomery shared an entertaining anecdote about one of the film’s earliest leaks. The image in question was a concept art piece featuring the aged-up Team Avatar, which had been leaked out of CinemaCon in 2024 before it was taken down. Montgomery jokingly referred to it as the ‘Avengers shot,’ with the characters posing together in a dramatic pose.

According to Montgomery, the team had created a version of the image with the same painting, but with slightly different character designs. However, the production designer, Jake Panian, was never satisfied with this version. Paramount Pictures then approached the team and asked them to showcase the image at CinemaCon, despite Panian’s concerns about it leaking. As expected, the image did leak, but this time from a cell phone camera at an odd angle. The image was then used as official artwork for various interviews and posts, much to the amusement of the team.

Evolution of Character Designs

Montgomery then moved on to showcase a slideshow of early character design concept art. The audience was treated to a wide range of designs, including an Aang with a chinstrap-style beard, multiple versions of Zuko’s hairstyle, and several iterations of Sokka. Toph was also featured in a ‘metalbending police get-up,’ while Katara was shown as a pregnant character. Montgomery revealed that many of these designs influenced the final version of Katara seen in the film.

The director also walked through the process of creating a brand-new language for the Avatar universe, called Avatarian. This language was inspired by Hangul and was designed to be phonetic, allowing characters to be translated from the International Phonetic Alphabet. Montgomery explained that she spent three months locked in her office, studying and developing the language. The goal was to create a unique and visually striking language that would be an integral part of the Avatar universe.

Keeping it 2D

Bryan Konietzko, co-creator of Avatar, reflected on the team’s decision to maintain the series’ defining animation style in 2D. He explained that the team initially assumed they would be working on a 3D animated film, but ultimately decided to stick with 2D animation. Konietzko cited the influence of Japanese anime as a key factor in this decision, stating that the series needed to stay true to its 2D roots. He also emphasized the importance of artists being able to explore different mediums and styles, rather than being forced to conform to industry standards.

The panel also revealed some exciting news about upcoming Avatar projects. A 26-episode 2D animated series, Avatar: Seven Havens, was announced, with a release date set for October 9 on Paramount+. Additionally, Tagah, the new airbender introduced in the film, will be a playable character in the upcoming Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game. The movie’s soundtrack will also be available to stream on July 25, with a physical media release planned for the future.