'Avatar: The Last Airbender 2' director M. Night Shyamalan is confirmed to return for a second installation in the planned trilogy after he finishes work on a yet unnamed thriller film. Critics, fans and media outlets continue to slam the alleged whitewashing of the cinematic series' original cast.

In an interview with Metro.co.uk, Shyamalan said that the follow-up film will not be his next project after his latest film 'The Visit'. He admitted that he will first work on a thriller film before tackling on another Nickelodeon adaptation. He said, "It takes so long to make those CGI movies... It's hard because it takes two/three years and I don't get to make two of my own movies so there's always a struggle of choosing someone else's material over my own... Right now I'm going to go do another one of my own first, another thriller."

The thriller film he talked about was speculated to be the planned project that may star Joaquin Phoenix, an actor he worked with before on 'The Village'. The unnamed film will begin filming on November in Philadelphia.

According to Movie Pilot, the apparent nepotism seen in the first film continues to irk several loyal fans of the successful animated television series by Nickelodeon. The multi-cultural characters featured in the 'Airbender' cartoons are nowhere to be found in Shyamalan's big-screen adaptation. It was reported that only actor Dev Patel stood out as a leading man with truly ethnic descent.

It remains a mystery whether the second film will include the return of original cast members including Patel as Prince Zuko, Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jackson Rathbone as Sokka, Shaun Taub as Uncle Iroh, Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao, and Seychelle Gabriel as Princess Yue. An article by Hypable commented that a complete recast of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender 2' would be near impossible.

'Avatar: The Last Airbender' is an upcoming fantasy-adventure film that will be based on the children's animated television series of the same name. It will be the second installment in a planned trilogy and will be based on the second season (book two) of the television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.