‘The Legend of Korra’ Pulled From Nickelodeon, Going Digital Distribution Only
The Legend of Korra‘s oddly difficult run on Nickelodeon continued with surprising news out of the San Diego Comic-Con. The rest of Season 3 is being dropped from the kid’s channel TV lineup and will be aired digitally going forward.
The announcement was made on The Legend of Korra official Tumblr site, where the show’s creators stated, “The remaining episodes will roll out weekly on Nick.com and the Nick app beginning August 1, as well as on platforms like Amazon, Google Play, Xbox and Hulu.”
The reasons behind the move have not been revealed yet, but co-creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko assure fans that the Korra animated series hasn’t been canceled and Season 4 will happen.
“I appreciate all the support for the show and share your frustration,” DiMartino wrote on Facebook. “But the good news is, you will be able to see the rest of Book 3 of Korra, I just don’t know all the details yet. And there is most definitely a Book 4. All the pre-production is done and Studio Mir is hard at work on the animation. So this was a disappointing development for sure but as long as you all are able to see the show in some capacity, I’m grateful. And honestly, you’re all watching it online anyway, right?”
The Season 3 ratings for The Legend of Korra have seen a drop but that can be partly attributed to how the show has been marketed and distributed. The premiere was advertised only a week before it aired, possibly due to leaks, and didn’t have time to build any sort of marketing effort or word of mouth behind it. Nickelodeon also made the equally odd decision to run two episodes every week, which resulted in the show quickly burning through most of its episodes for the season in only a month’s time. The promised digital distribution of the show also never appeared and that left other fans of the series out in the cold or looking for alternate (read: technically illegal) delivery methods.
The final cable TV episodes to be aired on Nickelodeon will air this Friday, July 25 at 8 pm ET. The entire Legend of Korra run has not been as well-received as its Avatar: The Last Airbender predecessor, but the changes made for Season 3 have received high marks from critics thanks to a change in focus and better enemies.
Expect more details on the future of The Legend of Korra over the next couple of days from San Diego Comic-Con. Konietzko left the following image to try to both reassure fans and bring a smile to their faces.
[Images via Bryan Konietzko Tumblr]
