Yes indeed, it's a good time to be an Avatar fan. Comic-Con's The Legend of Korra panel kicked things off with an emotionally sweeping montage of all the best moments from Season 1 -- which was, naturally, met with thunderous cheers and applause throughout. The Ballroom 20 crowd was packed with Korra fans of all ages, from kids with arrowhead ball caps to fully grown Amon cosplayers.
First, though, some big news: The Legend of Korra has just been picked up for 26 additional episodes, which brings the series tally to 52 episodes spread across four books total. It was also revealed that Book Two will be called Spirits and picks up six months after the end of Season 1.
Among the SDCC panelists were creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko; stars Janet Varney (Korra), P.J. Byrne (Bolin), David Faustino (Mako) and Seychelle Gabriel (Asami); as well as voice director Andrea Romano. The panel started with a mock table reading in which Romano and the cast reenacted various scenes from Korra's first season, which seemed to go over really well with the crowd. P.J. Byrne in particular kept the reading lively by throwing in his unique brand of Bolin improv.
by Max Nicholson
July 13, 2012
Yes indeed, it's a good time to be an Avatar fan. Comic-Con's The Legend of Korra panel kicked things off with an emotionally sweeping montage of all the best moments from Season 1 -- which was, naturally, met with thunderous cheers and applause throughout. The Ballroom 20 crowd was packed with Korra fans of all ages, from kids with arrowhead ball caps to fully grown Amon cosplayers.
First, though, some big news: The Legend of Korra has just been picked up for 26 additional episodes, which brings the series tally to 52 episodes spread across four books total. It was also revealed that Book Two will be called Spirits and picks up six months after the end of Season 1.
Among the SDCC panelists were creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko; stars Janet Varney (Korra), P.J. Byrne (Bolin), David Faustino (Mako) and Seychelle Gabriel (Asami); as well as voice director Andrea Romano. The panel started with a mock table reading in which Romano and the cast reenacted various scenes from Korra's first season, which seemed to go over really well with the crowd. P.J. Byrne in particular kept the reading lively by throwing in his unique brand of Bolin improv.
From there, we were shown a series of new concept artwork for Book Two, including environmental landscapes of the Southern Water Tribe, the Southern Air Temple and -- you guessed it -- the Spirit World! While DiMartino and Konietzko assured us that Season 2 will still primarily take place in Republic City, we will also slowly begin to explore other cities and towns throughout the Four Nations (some familiar and some completely new).
Next we got a peek at some Season 2 character designs. In addition to the original cast -- which has now been outfitted with snuggly winter garb for the Southern Water Tribe -- we also got a closer look at Commander Bumi and Kya (Aang and Katara's eldest daughter), both of whom roused another round of cheers from the audience. Expect to see a lot more of them next year as well.
Likewise, Korra's family will have a more prominent role this season, including her father, mother, uncle and cousins. I'm speculating here, but this will probably tie in to the Southern Water Tribe visit.
Following the slideshow, we were treated to some preliminary animatics showcasing what Team Avatar's been up to in the last six months -- and boy are they busy. As described by the creators, Mako is now a Repuclic City policeman, Asami has taken over her father's Future Industries and Bolin is struggling to find himself (assembling what looks like a new pro-bending team).
As predicted, Korra will now be exploring her newfound abilities as a fully realized Avatar. In her character animatic, we got to see Korra racing Tenzin's kids on air scooters around Air Temple Island, switching into the Avatar State for an extra boost to beat them; this implies that Korra can, in fact, enter the Avatar State at will by the start of Season 2.
Finally, we got to see an animatic in which Korra confronts her first spiritual enemy, a black, almost reptilian ghost of a creature. As the season's title suggests, there will be plenty of time spent in the Spirit World. Said DiMartino, "There will be no shortage of spirits in Book Two."
Stay tuned for full interviews with the cast and crew of The Legend of Korra.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/14/comic-con-korra-panel-teases-season-2
