Back in 2021, Nickelodeon launched the Avatar: Braving the Elements podcast. Hosted by original series voice actors Janet Varney (the voice of Korra) and Dante Basco (the voice of Prince Zuko), the podcast offers a deep dive into the wonderful world of the Avatarverse. After completing a rewatch of the original series, the podcast is now ready to tackle The Legend of Korra. With this year marketing the 20th anniversary of the beloved franchise and new projects from the the Avatarverse underway, it’s safe to say that there will be plenty more for Varney and Basco to explore after this Korra rewatch.
Ahead of the debut of the first episode of the new season of Avatar: Braving the Elements, The Beat had the immense pleasure of once against chatting with the podcast hosts to discuss what fans can expect including the fun celebrity super fan guests.
Taimur Dar When I first interviewed you about the Avatar: Braving the Elements podcast back in 2021 when it launched, you obviously had to record at home due to the necessity of lockdown. Cut to a few years later, production for the podcast has changed quite a bit, most notably you get to record in a studio together. There’s nothing wrong with a simple scaled back operation but I think there’s a magic and energy from being in the same room together and a studio setup as opposed to your closet. Was it always this always plan and what went into designing studio setup?
Janet Varney: It was definitely always our hope. We just felt lucky to get to do it all during the pandemic. Doing the video stuff benefited from the fact that we are still in each other’s lives IRL. But the hope was always to get into a room together and get into a room with our guests as much as possible. You’re absolutely right, Taimur. There’s just a different energy when you get to be physically in person with someone. I think we’ve seen that play out in season 3 and even more so in season 4. Right, D?
Dante Basco: All that being said, by the time we got into the studio we were like, “Hey! Look at this this!” The first season in the studio we were very red and very Fire Nation. We were in the Book of Fire. It was very apropos of what we were talking about. It was very cool to be there, like you said, with each other and also with guests and bounce off each other. I think more things came out of us being together having fun and talking about the show. In the new season with the new set and new guests, a lot more epiphanies happen.
Janet Varney: There ya go!
Taimur Dar: I completely forgot that Mick Foley voiced the Boulder in The Last Airbender. So it’s really fun to see he’s a guest on this season of the Avatar: Braving the Elements podcast. I just assumed once you finished the original series, the door was completely closed for certain guests. I’m glad that’s not the case. I know Mick Foley has been doing convention appearances with other Avatar actors in recent years. How did the idea of getting Mick Foley on the podcast come about and will mixing in original series actors with the Korra rewatch continue?
Janet Varney: I’m not sure how much we can say about guests who haven’t been announced. Mick has been and we’ve announced Zach [Tyler Eisen]. We’re family. So that’s one of the things we wanted to be able to carry through in the first season of Korra. I hope we will be able to continue it through. It just depends on people’s schedules. We all felt that way. We do cons together. We didn’t want to just close the door, to use your words. There is a continuum there, especially with people like Mick who we are friends with and we just couldn’t make it work during the first series for one of the last seasons of Braving the Elements. Because the Avatarverse is so dense and there’s so much to talk about and so many things connect, you can weave whatever tapestry you want in terms of what the conversation is because there are always these themes you can come to.
Dante Basco: A hundred percent. The Avatar family of the cast and crew is just an expansion of the Avatar community. And now with the new series coming out, the Avatar family and community expands. Like Jan said, it’s all connected. It’s very effortless to have the community and family interweave and come out. Also, the podcast has helped get everybody into the show more, us included. So we’re constantly conversating about ideas and themes. Bringing that real life conversation that we have as an Avatar family from cons and on the road to the podcast is just natural.
Taimur Dar: Another notable guest for the podcast is Maya Hawke along with her brother Levon. I didn’t realize until I did an internet search that Maya Hawk mentioned years ago in a video interview with her Stranger Things co-stars how much she adores the Avatarverse. It’s a bit surreal to think she was just a kid when both Korra and the original series came out. It’s not surprising the fanbase includes so many other actors and celebrities. When did you become aware that Maya Hawke and her brother were super fans?
Janet Varney: We found out this season what big fans Levon and Maya were. We don’t want to give too much away about their episode. But suffice it to say, Dante and I the whole time were like, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” When we say super fans, it is not a superficial fandom that they have. We asked, “Do you want to be the other two hosts?” They are so well versed in some of those deep, beautiful hard things that come up in the Avatarverse that make us all, I think, better people for having watched the show and giving those things thought and applying them to our own lives. Alicia Keys did a wonderful Instagram video about how much she loved Legend of Korra. It wasn’t just, “You know what’s cool? I saw this thing and she could bend all the elements. Alicia Keys comes on and starts talking about what it means to fail and what it means to come back and recover and what it means for your personal identity.
Dante Basco: What? I have to see this!
Janet Varney: I’ll have to send it to you. It’s never just a surface level conversation when it’s an Avatar super fan. It goes deep quick and those are our favorite conversations to have.
Dante Basco: Obviously, they’re celebrities and children of celebrities. They’re that core age that got into Avatar. They’re the real generation that grew up with it and are so connected in a way that their generation is. We’re blown away by their passion for their show.
Taimur Dar: What Janet was just talking about with that Alicia Keyes post, I look at the shows I’ve been watching the past few months like Squid Game, Severance, and The Last of Us. They’re all brilliant shows but it’s so much doom and gloom that I’m not sure it’s what we need right now. It’s why I’m so excited about the new Superman film to showcase a hopeful hero. For you, does rewatching Korra and doing this podcast provide you positive energy and hope that you’re able to put back in the world?
Dante Basco: A lot of times, projects are reflection of the times. These are rough times we are living through, so there are a lot of rough projects out there depicting the feelings of this time. So sometimes it is nice nostalgically to reach back to a time just before that may have a little more hope attached to it that we can reminded of. I think that is a really beautiful thing about the Avatar IP as a whole. As we’re going into Korra too, and a lot of the ups and downs she goes through, the hope that she makes it through in the end is great feels.
Janet Varney: Hope. You nailed it. That one word means so much. I think that’s something we’ve talked about before and something Mike [DiMartino] and Bryan [Konietzko] have made sure to hit home which is that it is a very hopeful universe. It’s a hopeful world. There is a lot of good. And there is also the acknowledgement of the constant search for balance [which is] essentially baked into that is the fact that there will always be light and dark. We learned that with Raava and Vaatu. We all inherently have a sense of that. That’s why I’m always so fascinated and moved when people say “Avatar and Korra are my comfort shows.” Yes, they are for me too, but I love that that doesn’t mean they are skimming the surface. Just like we were saying with the super fans, you are still watching some heavy stuff, but the fact that it has that hope infused throughout and the fun and whimsy even in the midst of the darkest times is where you keep connecting with that hope over and over again. I think it’s always going to be like that because that’s one of the core values of the series and the IP in general.
The all-new season of Avatar: Braving the Elements will rollout weekly with video episodes on YouTube and audio episodes wherever listeners get their podcasts.
