‘Avatar’ Creators Explain Korra’s Controversial Legacy in ‘Seven Havens’

Avatar: Seven Havens may be set centuries after its predecessor series, The Legend of Korra, but Avatar Korra’s (Janet Varney) impact is very much felt in the new post-apocalyptic animated series. And not in the positive sense.

When Avatar creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko visited TV Insider’s New York Comic-Con 2026 studio alongside executive producers Sehaj Sethi and Ethan Spaulding and cast members Saheli Khan (Pavi), Aishu Devan (Nisha), and Major Curda (Ja), we had to ask about Korra’s legacy 225 years later. Sethi explained the direction they took the “complex” character in the sequel and teased what’s in store for Korra’s legacy as Book 1 progresses.

Twin Avatars Pavi and Nisha live in a world where the Avatar is feared by most — and it’s seemingly Korra’s fault. She’s regarded as responsible for the cataclysm that ruined the world. In the premiere episode, Pavi witness a play paint Korra as a villainous figure, though The Legend of Korra fans will remember her much differently.

“The thing that I always really enjoyed about what we were doing with Korra is that it was clearly making her not an archetypal character,” Sethi explained. “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.”

Whether Korra did or didn’t do what so many Seven Havens characters believe remains to be seen at Book 1’s midway point, but Sethi enjoyed getting to show a less “black-or-white ” version of the Avatar via Korra in Seven Havens. “I feel like you can always think of that character as just like, ‘Oh, they’re just a good guy,’ and we never wanted to do that,” the co-executive producer added.

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The creative team intends to keep that trend going with Pavi and Nisha. “We never want to do this in our show with our Avatars, either,” Sethi said. “We want them to both succeed and fail; we want them to be human, so to all the Avatar fans, we love [Korra] too, and we promise we are giving you a really layered, beautiful interpretation of that character.”

Watch the full video at the top of the page to get more insights into Avatar: Seven Havens.

Avatar: Seven Havens, Season 1, Episodes 1-6, Streaming Now, Paramount+

Avatar: Seven Havens, Season 1, Episodes 7-9, October 23, Paramount+

Avatar: Seven Havens, Season 1, Episodes 10-13, October 30, Paramount+