After last week’s surprising appearance of a trailer for Avatar: The Legend of Korra Book 3, fans were ecstatic and eagerly awaiting more news on the project. However, I think very few of us expected an announcement so soon. Even more surprising is that the announcement would be the premiere date for The Legend of Korra season 3…only one week away! Talk about coming right out of nowhere and going right into the spotlight of things to come. Yes, Book 3 of The Legend of Korra, entitled Change, is set to premiere on June 27th. Furthermore, not only will the first episode air at 7PM Eastern/8PM Pacific in the US, but episode 2 will follow that at 7:30/8:30 and episode 3 right after that at 8/9! That’s right, we get a full 3 new episodes of Avatar: The Legend of Korra in one night.

LegendOfKorra3announceThis surprise return of The Legend of Korra comes less than a year after the second season premiere, which might shock many fans of the Avatar series considering Nickelodeons often delayed release for the popular cartoon series. In previous years the first episode of the series saw early premieres either online or at conventions like San Diego Comic Con. This year it looks like Nickelodeon is giving everyone the same day treatment, but adding to it with the release of 3 episodes at once. It is technically 6 episodes at once if you already saw the leaked episodes 3-6 that went out earlier this month. The 3 episodes premiering on the 27th are titled “A Breath of Fresh Air”, “Rebirth of a Nation”, and “The Earth Queen”, the latter of which notes what we have long been told about this season going more heavily into the story of the Earth-benders and what will likely contain Toph’s story post-Last Airbender. Below is an official synopsis of the first two episodes to air next Friday:

“A Breath of Fresh Air”: After the events of Harmonic Convergence, Avatar Korra discovers that her decision to leave the spirit portals open has unexpected consequences. Wild spirit vines have overgrown Republic City and Airbenders are suddenly popping up across the four nations.

“Rebirth of a Nation”: Korra, Tenzin and Team Avatar search for new Airbenders in an effort to recruit them and rebuild the Air Nation. Meanwhile, a band of sinister criminals are organizing to hunt down the Avatar themselves.

We have yet to get a synopsis of “The Earth Queen”, but are informed an earlier title for the episode was “Meet the Family”, which in itself could be a telling fact about what unfolds that episode. If you want a quick look at the new season, IGN recently got an exclusive clip showing how the world has changed after the Harmonic Convergence. Click here to check that out. Otherwise, you might want to head to Nickelodeon’s official site to catch up on all of The Legend of Korra episodes, currently streaming for free at Nick.com. Once you’ve caught up, make sure to get an advance look at the first 5 minutes of Book 3 exclusively on Nick.com, which you can view by clicking here!