The footage began going around in mid-April, months before the film was slated to release on Paramount+ on Oct. 9.

Suspect accused of leaking The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender online arrested, faces 7 years in prison

The footage began going around in mid-April, months before the film was slated to release on Paramount+ on Oct. 9.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on Entertainment Tonight and Popsugar.

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April 24, 2026 5:44 p.m. ET

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'Avatar: The Last Airbender'. Credit: Everett Collection

- A suspect has been arrested after being accused of leaking the film *The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender *on social media.

- The Paramount+ film was uploaded to X in its entirety earlier this month.

- Authorities in Singapore say the suspected man gained unauthorized remote access to a media server, from which he was able to download the film before distributing it online.

A suspect has been arrested after being accused of leaking the entirety of Paramount+'s forthcoming *Avatar: The Last Airbender* sequel film, *The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender.*

** has learned that the 26-year-old suspect was arrested by local authorities in Singapore after police say he allegedly downloaded an unreleased animated film and leaked parts of it online.

In a statement released by the police to The Straits Times on Friday, authorities say the suspect was identified and arrested within a day of them receiving a report on April 16 about the circulation of the unreleased film on social media platforms. The police say they seized electronic devices belonging to the suspect, which included a digital copy of *The Legend of Aang*.

According to the report, the man had gained unauthorized remote access to a media server, from which he was able to download the film before distributing it online.

Aang in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'.

Local laws state that unauthorized access to computer material carries a maximum of seven years jail time, and/or a potential fine of up to $50,000.

The news of the arrest comes as the chaos of the unreleased film being leaked on social media has died down. The entire film — which was slated to be released on Paramount+ in October after the original plan for a theatrical release was scrapped — was first posted to X on April 12, allegedly from an account based in Singapore, according to *Esquire*.

The outlet reports that the account falsely claimed Nickelodeon, which animated the original series, "accidentally e-mailed" them "the entire Avatar Aang movie." Attached to the post, which has since garnered more than 30 million views, was a now-deleted extract of the movie.

Flying Bark Productions, the studio based in Australia that actually animated *The Legend of Aang*, denied that the leak came from them. "It was heartbreaking to see footage from *The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender* leak online. This leak did not originate from Flying Bark," a spokesperson told *Variety*. "Our studio proudly partnered on the production until the very end and we acknowledge the filmmakers, cast, artists and animators who worked tirelessly to produce this incredibly crafted film."

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The footage circulated quickly online, appearing on various websites such as 4chan and Reddit, as well as being downloaded for people to save on their computer.

While many cheered on the leak, especially after the feature had been unceremoniously pulled from a theatrical release, those who worked on the film condemned the leak and the viral spread.

At the time of the leak, animator Julia Schoel posted on X, writing, "We worked on the Aang movie for years with the expectation that we'd get to celebrate all of our hard work in theaters...just to see people unceremoniously leak the film and pass our shots around on Twitter like candy."

She added, "I don't like seeing people use paramount's awful decision to remove the movie from theaters to justify leaking it. I totally understand folks not wanting to pay for/support paramount+, but pirating the movie after its release would have at least been better than this. This is incredibly disrespectful to all of the hard work the artists put in."

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Parmount+ announced last December that it would release the film on its streaming platform, with Dave Bautista, Steven Yeun, and Eric Nam headlining the voice cast. The film’s director, Lauren Montgomery, addressed the decision in an Instagram post last month, when she announced that the film had wrapped production.

"We screened the final film for the crew and celebrated the end of a four-year journey," she wrote. "Now it waits in limbo until its release in October... The recent decision to move us from theatrical to streaming might give the impression that the quality wasn't sufficient, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. This movie deserves to be seen on a big screen!!! Can't wait for you all to see it!"

Paramount has not officially shared any trailer or footage of the film. Despite the leak, *The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender* is still set to stream on Paramount+ Oct. 9.

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