A man said to be behind the leak of Nickelodeon’s upcoming Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender animated movie has been arrested in Singapore, The Straits Times reported Friday. Police arrested the unidentified man on suspicion of accessing a media server without authorization.
That charge carries a maximum jail term of seven years, fines up to $50,000, or both.
On April 12, X user ImStillDissin posted the two clips from Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender claiming Nickelodeon had accidentally emailed him the entire movie. The user also posted an image from the film’s credits, revealing previously unknown roles and cast members. Those media were removed via copyright strike, though the measures ultimately proved futile: The entirety of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender was later leaked through 4chan and other websites, reportedly by a person located in Singapore.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Nickelodeon parent company Paramount’s investigation into the leak determined that the incident wasn’t an accident or “caused by a vulnerability in its systems.”
Police in Singapore say they were alerted to the circulation of parts of clips from the film on social media on April 16. The suspected leaker was reportedly arrested the following day. Electronic devices belonging to the suspect were seized, and a copy of the film was recovered from his devices.
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender (also known as The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender) was announced in 2021, alongside the formation of Avatar Studios to create Avatar-related content for Paramount Plus and Nickelodeon. Originally, the new Avatar movie was planned as a theatrical release. In 2025, as part of the Paramount Skydance merger, corporate plans changed: Paramount decided to ditch the film’s theatrical release in favor of a straight-to-streaming strategy. Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender is slated to hit Paramount Plus on Oct. 9.
In the wake of the film’s leak, artists who worked on the Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender condemned the actions of leakers and pleaded with fans not to share it.
“It breaks my heart to see the way some fans are treating the hard-working artists who dedicated years of their lives to bring you the best possible work they can with this film,” said Tessa Bright, who worked on the film in a leadership capacity. “It’s perfectly reasonable for anyone who worked on this project to be frustrated at this situation.”
“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,” said animator Julia Schoel. “I don’t like seeing people use Paramount’s awful decision to remove the movie from theaters to justify leaking it.”
Even Toph’s voice actor, Michaela Jill Murphy (aka Jessie Flower), reprimanded leakers.
“Stop talking about it, and stop sharing things about it,” Murphy said in a video on TikTok. “If you want to be respectful, and if you want to know how I feel, stop sharing it. Stop consuming it. Stop talking about it. And watch it when it comes out. That’s what I’m doing. And if you want to respect the creators and respect the cast and respect me, and respect the art, then stop sharing it and editing it and looking at it and commenting about it.”
Polygon has contacted the Singapore Police Force and Paramount for additional details on the arrest and will update with any additional details.
Avatar’s best adult Aang story is already streaming legally
Skip the leaked movie and watch this old episode instead
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