Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Showrunner Defends Changes To King Bumi, Says Original “Fun” Depiction “Didn’t Work In Live-Action”
Spencer Baculi
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According to series showrunner Albert Kim, the egregious decision to change King Bumi’s personality from ‘slightly kooky’ to ‘bitter curmudgeon’ in Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series was made because the production team felt that the Earth Bender’s original “fun” depiction “didn’t work in live-action”.
One of the most memorable side-characters from throughout the entire series, the original incarnation of King Bumi was first introduced to fans in the animated series’ fifth overall episode, The King of Omashu.
Therein, from the moment they make his acquaintance, Aang, Katara, and Sokka are taken aback by his rather lax and nonsensical behavior: Where they imagine a ruler to be regal and coherent, King Bumi instead comes across as laid back and borderline insane, his mind more concerned with puns than royal affairs.
Unfortunately for the team, this psuedo-insanity soon turns out to be more dangerous than amusing, as upon the discovery that Aang is the Avatar, Bumi immediately calls for him to be subjected – by force, as he threatens to encase Katarra and Sokka in crystal should he not comply – to a series of trials to prove his worth as the legendary hero.
However, upon Aang’s completion of the final trial – a trial by combat against the royal himself – King Bumi not only reveals himself to be one of his childhood friends, himself having aged in real time while the Air Bender was stuck in the ice, but also that everything from his ‘crazy’ behavior to his trials were nothing more than a game meant to both playfully and lovingly mess with his friend’s head while simultaneously preparing him for the forthcoming challenges he’ll have to face in his role as the Avatar.
“First of all, it’s pretty fun messing with people,” the Earth Kingdom royal ultimately explains of his prank. “But I do have a reason. Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years that you’ve been gone. It’s the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do, I hope you will think like a mad genius. And it looks like you’re in good hands. You’ll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation. And you’ll need Momo, too.”
But unsurprisingly, in Netflix’s version of the story, Bumi’s characterization is much, much different.
In the live-action series, not only does Bumi, as portrayed by actor Utkarsh Ambudkar, immediately reveal his true identity to Aang upon their first reunion, but rather than his ‘angry curmudgeon’ behavior being part of a playful facade, it is actually his real personality, with the King having grown bitter towards his old friend after his disappearance left the Fire Nation near unopposed in their plans for world domination.
“You dare tell me I should care?” Bumi at one point barks towards Aang after he questions his broken spirit. “Have you been fighting the same fight for a century? Have you watched your whole world burn down around you? Hmm? Let me tell you something, Avatar. You may be a hundred years old, but you haven’t lived for a hundred years – especially not these hundred years.”
Further, instead of still retaining his childhood spirit for adventure and pranks, this version of Bumi instead takes to chastising Aang for holding on to his sense of wonder.
“It’s all about games with you, isn’t it Avatar?” questions the King. “Who cares about responsibility? Who cares about, oh, saving the world? No, more fun to goof off. Am I right?”
And rather than being the one to encourage Aang to lean on Katarra and Sokka in the dark days ahead, it is Bumi who is taught a lesson on friendship by the young Air Bender.
In stark contrast to the above quote from his animated counterpart, at one point during Aang’s final combat trial, the King angrily informs him, “In this world, you can’t rely on anyone, not even your friends.”
However, after emerging victorious in the trial thanks to their help, Aang informs Bumi, “You can rely on your friends, and that’s the only way I’m gonna save the world. With my friends.”
(To top it all off, Aang’s lesson is ultimately met with further condescension from Bumi, who declares in turn, “You think like a child.”)
And while the original story’s handling of these events was clearly successful in communicating these themes without relying on the tired trope of ‘everyone should be sad and miserable’, according to the aforementioned Kim, the changes to Aang and Bumi’s encounter were needed in order to sell Avatar‘s story to live-action audiences.
Pressed on this creative decision by Variety‘s Selome Hailu, who asked the showrunner “Why did you add that animosity to their relationship?”, Kim asserted, “There are hints in the original that he feels like he was abandoned by the Avatar. You’re right. He doesn’t reveal his identity until the end of the episode in the animated series, but that’s a change we made because it helped our storytelling.”
“It helps Aang realize what he’s up against,” said Kim. “The original episode is a fun one, with him going through these various challenges. For a variety of reasons, that didn’t work in live-action and for our story. In the original episode, Bumi’s point is to show what Aang needs to go through to become the Avatar, which is part of what we work into our story as well, but the more emotional storyline is what Aang’s departure from the world meant for Bumi. He feels betrayed by his friend.”
“For Aang, he’s starting to feel the burden of guilt: ‘This is what happened because I wasn’t around. Not only did this abstract thing happen — the war — but a really good friend of mine was hurt, and I hurt him,'” the showurnner concluded. “To tell that story, it helped that the two of them knew who each other was right away.”
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