‘Avatar: Seven Havens’ creators explain Korra’s controversial legacy: ‘She wasn’t a hero or a villain’
225 years after ‘The Legend of Korra,’ ‘Avatar: Seven Havens’ picks up in a post-apocalyptic world. The Four Nations are gone, replaced by the “Seven Havens.” People fear and hate Korra now. She is remembered in history not as a hero but as a villain. She is even blamed for the cataclysm that changed everything. There’s even a festival play at the beginning where kids see her as a monster. ‘Avatar: Seven Havens’ co-executive producer Sehaj Sethi spoke with TV Insider about the new series, saying that it sought to depict Korra as a real person rather than an avatar. The standard of his writing, as Sethi said, “was clearly making her not an archetypal character.”
Sethi added, “She wasn’t a hero or a villain. She was a person, and she was complex. She had depth to her. She is someone who, just like any other Avatar, and like many other Avatars before her, potentially did something that failed the world, or maybe she did something that was completely seen differently than years later.” That means the team wanted her to be a complicated character. And, at the halfway point of Book 1, the outlet notes, the show has not confirmed what Korra actually did.
The first episode illustrates that reputation at work. Pavi (Saheli Khan), an Earthbender who learns that she is the new Avatar, attends a stage play that portrays Korra as a villain. People in the Havens even have parties to celebrate her death. The story is set in a world following a catastrophe that occurred during Korra’s time as the Avatar. Also, the current perception of the Avatar makes Pavi and her long-lost twin Nisha (Aishu Devan) uncover their past as the enemies among humans and spirits alike hunt them down.
Korra (Janet Varney), the Avatar who preceded Pavi, was from the Southern Water Tribe. Varney voiced the character in four Books of ‘The Legend of Korra,’ a Nickelodeon series that debuted in 2012 and concluded in 2014, picking up 70 years after ‘The Last Airbender.’ ‘Seven Havens’ is the third installment in the franchise, with the first being ‘The Last Airbender’ (2005-2008). Notably, the series is created by the same people behind previous shows, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who launched Avatar Studios in 2021. They worked on the live-action version of the Netflix series ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender,’ and left in 2020 due to creative differences.
Ethan Spaulding is the executive producer, and Sethi is his co-executive producer. On February 20, 2025, the day before the 20th anniversary of the first episode, Nickelodeon officially announced the series, which will comprise 26 half-hour episodes in two Books of 13 episodes each. They also released the first image of the characters during the San Diego Comic-Con 2025. Deadline reports that the series has been renewed for Books 3 and 4, with the latest news revealed at the New York Comic-Con on October 9.
Khan leads the voice cast alongside Devan, Akshay Khanna, Major Curda, Sakina Jaffrey, Darren Barnet, Dianne Doan, and Dee Bradley Baker as Appa in the original series. Additionally, Jeremy Zuckerman, the creator of the franchise’s musical score, will also return. Moreover, Book 1 of the new series was released on October 9 on Paramount+, with episodes 4 to 6 premiering on October 16. Finally, episodes 7 to 9 will air on October 23, and the last four episodes of the first book will be released on October 30.
