‘Korra’ May Have Been Too Mature For Nickelodeon

With the fourth season of Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra airing this week, many fans are still wondering why the very popular show is only being shown on the Internet yet again. About midway through the third season, Nickelodeon pulled Korra’s time slot, stating that due to low ratings it would now be showing only online. While in a way this is good — can we say no commercials? — fans are still left pondering if there is an alternative reason our beloved Avatar was pulled.

Let’s think about this for a second. Do you really think the real reason was due to the show’s ratings? Or the fact that while its predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender, was more friendly toward a younger audience. The Legend of Korra has definitely proven to be geared toward an older generation. As I expand on this theory, a warning: SPOILERS AHOY!

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While The Legend of Korra is much like Avatar: The Last Airbender, it’s also very different. The characters are slightly older, the time period has changed (obviously, since Korra is Aang’s reincarnation), and here’s the big difference — in three seasons it has shown four murder/suicides. You read that correctly. A Nickelodeon show with a Y-7 rating has made it pretty blatant that some of the characters are dead and I don’t mean with a journey to the Spirit World. Avatar: The Last Airbender definitely had its moments with murders as well but not in the gritty way Korra has portrayed them thus far.

So obviously living in a digital era where parents are strongly encouraged to view what websites their children are looking at, putting Korra on the Net may serve a purpose in keeping its viewers within a certain age range. Now, don’t read too much into that statement. This is all purely speculation from a die-hard Avatar fan. And others have speculated that it went Internet-only for a more basic monetary interest after the first few episodes were leaked online well before the premiere. But with the maturity growth in this new installment, I can’t help but think Korra really is meant for an older audience and I know I’m not alone in that assumption.

What further cements the speculation of why it was pulled is that the show’s creators, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, were even taken aback when Nickelodeon announced the move to digital. Trust me guys, the fandom was pretty shocked too. But something we can all agree on is that The Legend of Korra definitely doesn’t fit the current Nickelodeon lineup of shows (because it’s awesome, duh).

As fans all we can do is sit back for the ride — one that will prove to be an emotional roller coaster — and see where this final season will end up. We’ll once again be in limbo until DiMartino and Konietzko decide to give us more beyond Book 4 (if they ever do) but one request from a fan, guys: make sure it’s on a platform that appreciates the growing maturity of the show — say, Toonami? The Legend of Korra, Book 4, premieres this Friday, Oct. 3, online at Nick.com.