Club Jade

Debuting at SDCC was the first trailer for Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender followup, Legend of Korra. Last Airbender Fans has a wrapup of the panel. It looks pretty damn cool, no?

And, bonus hilarity: The teaser hasn’t even been out a week and there’s not only tons of fan art around, but I’ve heard there are actual ship wars. Oh, fandom.

The only negative? Still no premiere date other than sometime next year…

The Wall Street Journals’ Speakeasy blog has been breaking news about the new series from the folks behind Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra.

On Monday, they have us our first look at the face of series’ title character, Korra – she was facing away from us in the initial art.

Tuesday brought casting info: Janet Varney will be voicing Korra, with J.K. Simmons as her airbending teacher, Aang’s son Tenzin. You’ll probably recognize Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, aka the best part of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. We don’t know anything about the rest of the characters, but other familiar voices include Daniel Dae Kim (Lost, ATLA’s General Fong,) Lance Henriksen (remember Millennium?) Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) and David Faustino (Married With Children.) Perhaps the most controversial name? Seychelle Gabriel, who played Princess Yue in M. Night Shyamalan’s much-maligned Airbender adaption. But folks, let’s cut her some slack: It’s not like she scripted or directed the thing.

Wednesday we got an interview with series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, where they reveal that Nickelodeon ordered an additional 14 episodes – which brings the total number to 26! Go read it.

A familiar face joins HBO’s Game of Thrones. Julian Glover, who you’ll remember as General Veers from Empire Strikes Back and Walter Donovan from his face-melting turn in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, has joined the cast of HBO’s adaption as Grand Maester Pycelle. He replaces Roy Dotrice, who had to step out for health reasons.

Torn from the headlines. NPR gives some love to #Wookieeleaks, the hashtag that took Twitter by storm last week.

Airbender successor series won’t be ongoing. UGO snatched some time with co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at SDCC to bend a few new details on the upcoming Legend of Korra. Chief among them: It’s mini-series. But that does mean that DiMartino and Konietzko are writing each episode. This has done very little to temper my excitement. Maybe because I keep running into stuff like this.

Your moment of zen. Kate Beaton has produced the best Wolverine comic ever.

Some great news for fans of the cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender! We’re finally getting confirmation of the long-rumored new cartoon. Korra returns to the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender 70 years later, following Aang’s sucessor. Avatar Korra is “a passionate, rebellious, and fearless teenaged girl from the Southern Water Tribe.” Here are a few more plot details from the press release:

With three of the four elements under her belt (Earth, Water, and Fire), Korra seeks to master the final element, Air. Her quest leads her to the epicenter of the modern “Avatar” world, Republic City – a metropolis that is fueled by steampunk technology. It is a virtual melting pot where benders and non-benders from all nations live and thrive. However, Korra discovers that Republic City is plagued by crime as well as a growing anti-bending revolution that threatens to rip it apart. Under the tutelage of Aang’s son, Tenzin, Korra begins her airbending training while dealing with the dangers at large.

The series is headed up by Avatar creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and expected to premiere in 2011. This hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s worth noting that rumor mill has suggested that the series may feature some flashbacks to the characters from Airbender.