‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’: Is the Original ‘Avatar’ Cartoon on Netflix?

The Avatar has returned — and this time he’s three-dimensional! Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender is now available to binge, so expect the internet to once again be caught up in Avatar-mania this weekend. It’ll be just like 2020 — uh, one of the good parts of 2020, that is.

The new series stars Gordon Cormier as Aang, the last known airbender and the fledgling Avatar destined to bring peace to the world. There’s only been one slight hiccup: our boy Aang was trapped in ice for 100 years and the entire world fell to the aggressively imperial Fire Nation. So… Aang’s also gotta deal with that!

Originally introduced in 2005 as a Nickelodeon animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender boasts one of the most imaginative and immersive world-building narratives in pop culture history — one that’s wholly unique and not built on pre-existing IP. So of course it’s spawned a lot of spinoffs, tie-ins, and now adaptations — like the Netflix live-action series. If you’re just hopping aboard now and want to see the story that started it all, you’ll have to stream the original animated series. So… where is the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon streaming? Keep reading!

Is the original Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon available to stream on Netflix?

Yes, it is! With the release of the new live-action adaptation from Netflix, you’ll be able to hop back and forth between series and compare the two — if that’s of interest to you.

It makes sense that the cartoon would remain on Netflix, despite not being a Netflix original animated series. The Avatar animated series was a major, major part of Netflix during 2020. The series was added to Netflix in May of 2020, just a few weeks into what would be a year(s) long pandemic, quarantine, and national/global nightmare. A whole new audience discovered Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2020 via a Netflix binge. Fast-forward four years now there are two results for “Avatar: The Last Airbender” on Netflix. Um, and also Young Sheldon and She’s the Man pop up too. Netflix’s search engine isn’t exactly precise.

Where else can you stream the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series? Is Avatar on Paramount+?

If, I don’t know, you want to show another streaming service some love by utilizing your login and bingeing a few hours of content outside of Netflix, you can always watch or rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender on Paramount+. As Paramount essentially owns Avatar, it’s a safer bet that the series will remain on Paramount+ if the contract with Netflix ever runs out.

Listen — streaming services have truly been popping off and doing wild stuff with their libraries as of late. Avatar is streaming right now on Netflix and Paramount+, but remember: the safest way to ensure that you will always be able to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender whenever you want is to own the series on DVD or Blu-ray.

Uh… what about… I don’t know, the 2010 live-action feature film The Last Airbender? Is that available on Netflix?

Okay, wow, it’s wild that you’re asking considering that film was universally panned — but hey, director M. Night Shyamalan is going through a career renaissance and people are reevaluating his complicated filmography. If you want to watch The Last Airbender, go for it. The Last Airbender is streaming on Paramount+, Fubo, and Prime Video (although it expires at the end of February).

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 is now streaming in full on Netflix.