Straight from the wiki:

Avatar: Legend of Korra is an upcoming television mini-series set in the Avatar universe as a spin-off of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is currently under development, and is expected to run for 12 episodes from November 2011.[1] The co-creators of the original series, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, are confirmed to be involved. The pair will personally write all of the episodes to allow for a tighter storyline.

I am totally STOKED!

We’re huge fans around here of the cartoon*  Avatar the Last Airbender around here – we watched the series as a family over countless living room picnic dinners; we craved part twos of season finales to the point where we crowded around the computer and watched them in 10-minute youtube segments, all craned in to hear every last word; we sniffled together at the end, when Book 3: Fire came to a close.

People are sometimes appalled by the fact that I’m a nearly-forty-year-old woman who still watches cartoons. Which leaves me deeply annoyed, to be honest. I love me some cartoons – but it’s not so much about the brain candy (not that I don’t adore old Roadrunner episodes – set me up in front of some of those and I will laugh until I pee). I love me some smart cartoons. Courage the Cowardly Dog? Oh, yes. Any of that Batman stuff that was animated in the 90s? Hayao Miyazaki movies? Oh, lawdy, YES.

And Avatar the Last Airbender is among the smartest of the smart. The world that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have created here is lush and wide, and the characters are beautifully fleshed out. The messages presented are universal and kind. Magic is a real and regular part of life. People are shown as diverse and yet united. In short, watching is a transporting experience. It’s amazingly well balanced between entertainment and message, and we can’t get enough. I think we’ve watched the series on dvd now three or four times as a family, and Will and I have watched it on our own while working on projects, probably another three or four times.

So the release date for Avatar: Legend of Korra is currently slated to show up in a year. That it’s got the same writers bodes well for content and that it’s a different main character bodes well against sophomore slump.  I wait with both appreciation and anticipation.

*M. Night Shyamalan is very close to being number one on my shitlist. That’s all I’m going to say about it.