Post his super success of Slumdog Millionaire, British-Indian actor Dev Patel has bagged The Sixth Sense director M Night Shyamalan's next film titled The Last Airbender.

Sources revealed that the film is based on Nickelodeon's TV series titled Avatar-The Last Airbender. Dev Patel is going to play the role of Prince Zuko of Fire Nation, which starts out as an antagonist (villain) character due to his traumatic past but through a series of events, he turns over a new leaf and is crowned the emperor of Fire Nation at the end of the TV series. Dev will undergo a boot camp to train in Martial Arts.

American singer and actor Jesse McCartney (of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody fame) was originally slated for the part but he backed out as the boot camp dates were clashing with his tour dates.

M Night Shyamalan has been quoted in Variety Magazine as saying, "Dev was one of the guys I was interested in. Then I saw Slumdog and the kid just grew in my eyes."

Dev's cast members are also relative newcomers Noah Ringer (who will play lazy protagonist and Martial Arts champ Aang), Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Jessica Jade Andres

The film will go on the floors next month and will be shot in Shyamalan's favourite location Philadelphia, moving on to the world's largest island Greenland and the Far East. Shyamalan has been roped in to direct a trilogy based on the TV series. The movie which has a Martial Arts and spiritual theme is slated to release on July 2, 2010

What The Last Airbender is all about -

It's a popular, award-winning American TV series which ran into three seasons and is based on the eternal battle between good and evil.

Water, Earth, Fire and Air are the four nations. Fire Nation threatens to enslave the other 3 and that is where 12 year old Airbender Aang steps in.

The aimless boy learns that he is the new Avatar who can save the world and must use his hidden powers to save the world from the Fire benders, the evil magicians that threaten to destroy the world. Prince Zuko teaches Aang the art of Fire bending.