Ethan Spaulding | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ethan Spaulding United States |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Employer | Warner Bros. Animation |
| Notable work | Avatar: The Last Airbender ThunderCats Son of Batman Batman: Assault on Arkham Justice League: Throne of Atlantis |
Ethan Spaulding is an American animation director, producer and storyboard artist. He is well known for his work on the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008), directing 12 episodes and working as a storyboard artist on others. Following the conclusion of the series, he began working at Warner Bros. Animation, where he served as a producer of the animated reboot series ThunderCats (2011–2012). He has since directed films from the Scooby Doo!, Mortal Kombat, and DC Comics franchises, among others.
Spaulding spent a decade as a character layout artist on The Simpsons, starting in 1995. Following his work on the show, he was hired as a storyboard artist on the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He made his directorial debut with the season 2 episode “Return to Omashu”.
In 2011, Spaulding served as a producer for the Cartoon Network series ThunderCats, a reboot of the 1980s TV series of the same name. He directed three films in the DC Animated Movie Universe: Son of Batman and Batman: Assault on Arkham, both in 2014 (the latter of which he co-directed with Jay Oliva), and Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis in 2015. From 2017 to 2018, he directed the CW Seed web series Freedom Fighters: The Ray, which was later released as a feature film. He also directed the Lego films Lego Scooby-Doo! Blowout Beach Bash and Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash. In 2019, he co-directed the film Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island alongside Cecilia Aranovich Hamilton.
Since 2020, Spaulding has directed three animated films based on the Mortal Kombat franchise: Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge, Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, and Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match. He also produced the anime-inspired film Catwoman: Hunted in 2022.
In 2025, it was announced that Spaulding would executive produce the upcoming Avatar sequel series Avatar: Seven Havens.
| Year | Title | Director | Story Artist |
Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–2004 | The Simpsons | Assistant | Yes | No | Assistant Director: 12 episodes Character layout artist: 27 episodes |
| 2005–2008 | Avatar: The Last Airbender | Yes | Yes | No | Director: 12 episodes Assistant Director: 3 episodes Storyboard artist: 20 episodes |
| 2008–2009 | Batman: The Brave and the Bold | No | Yes | No | 8 episodes |
| 2011–2012 | ThunderCats | No | No | Yes | 26 episodes |
| 2013 | The Looney Tunes Show | Yes | No | No | 7 episodes |
| Green Lantern: The Animated Series | No | Yes | No | Episode: "Love Is a Battlefield" | |
| The Legend of Korra | No | Yes | No | Episodes: "The Sting" and "Light in the Dark" | |
| 2014–2016 | Mike Tyson Mysteries | Yes | Yes | No | Director: 15 episodes Storyboard artist: 2 episodes |
| 2017–2018 | Justice League Action | No | Yes | No | 3 episodes |
| 2017 | Justice League Action Shorts | No | Yes | No | Episode: "True Colors" |
| 2017–2018 | Freedom Fighters: The Ray | Yes | No | No | |
| 2026– | Avatar: Seven Havens | No | No | Executive |