Janet Varney’s enthusiasm is as infectious as her passion for fandom. She voices Korra in Legend of Korra and co-hosts the Avatar companion podcast Avatar: Braving the Elements.
During our conversation at GalaxyCon St. Louis, my wife, Lindsay, and I loved discussing with Janet the growth of the Avatar fandom, the next generation of fans, and why it’s important to remember that there are “good people in the Fire Nation.”
Have you ever been a guest at GalaxyCon before?
I have! I haven’t done it in St. Louis before. I think this is the second time they’ve ever done it, though, which is very cool to be here. But I love doing GalaxyCons, they always bring such cool people and I say that not like I’m putting myself in that mix, but because I’m such a fan of the people that are the other artists, so I geek out with everybody else on all of the cool people who come and sign.
Have you had a favorite fan interaction today or at any time during this con?
Oh my gosh, I have so many; that’s why we keep coming back. It’s just like the connection with people is so rewarding and lovely. I had a wonderful exchange today, to name just one of many, with a queer couple who were Korra’s age when Korra was out in the world. And when she ended up with Asami, they felt so seen. And just had, you know, a very special connection with that ship and with the show for that reason. And those conversations often get very emotional because I really understand, you know, what it feels like to think, well, I feel normal. Can’t I, can’t ever, everybody else feel like I’m normal?
It’s such a cool space that Korra has in the Avatar fandom and nerd fandom in general—and speaking to that fandom. We’ve actually seen you at San Diego Comic-Con before. We’ve seen the fandom go from mid-sized ballrooms to, this year, Avatar was in Hall H, and it still feels like there’s not enough room for everybody (even in a massive event center). Can you talk about what that’s been like to see the fandom grow and then also people recognize how big this fandom is?
For sure, yeah. I mean, I think it’s one of those fandoms that, you know, there is so much great stuff out there in the world now. Much of it is brand new; everybody’s discovering stuff that’s just coming out, but also people are still discovering the classics that have been around for a minute.
And so it’s been so beautiful to see that fandom start with the first show, build with Korra, and then just get stronger as more access was created for people, like when it was streaming on Netflix, all that good stuff. And to know that, yeah, we’re not like replacing one group of fans, one age of fans, for another. It’s just growing and building, and that’s happening right now with Seven Havens and, like, you know, there are kids watching Seven Havens. For them, that’s their Avatar series, you know, like they feel like, ‘this is for me.’
So that’s been, I mean, it gives me a lot of hope, especially because I feel like there’s just a lot of ugliness in the world right now. And I would say if you are bringing ugliness to the Avatarverse, you’re doing it wrong because it is a place where you should be able to kind of walk away from that. Not to say that those conflicts don’t happen in the storytelling, but as a community of fans, it’s an opportunity to feel like things are a little less crazy.
We are massive season 3 fans (of Legend of Korra). We are especially massive fans of Zaheer. Can you talk about what it was like going into that season and, knowing you’re going to have an extremist airbender as the antagonist?
It was incredibly exciting. I mean, the possibilities there were just so immediate. And not to say that it wasn’t surprising, because the Avatarverse, you know, Mike and Brian and all the wonderful writers always find ways to surprise us. But just knowing, like, oh, no one is going to know how to deal with this. Like it’s going, and it feels like sort of a violation of what we understand. And then, of course, we see that play out in Avatar Aang as well. And you see how the filmmakers and all the people that share the DNA with the first two shows are looking to put those bridges together. Like, okay, this is, you know, we go back in time, but Tagah feels familiar in the sense that it’s like, oh, like, there, yes, there are people amongst, you know, as Dante (Basco) likes to say, ‘there are good people in the Fire Nation too’.
That is really well said!
And to sort of open up and see, yeah, you can have that ability to be from that nation or area. That it’s not black and white; it’s not like this one nation is wonderful and this nation is bad. And like, that’s how it works. You see it play out where it depends on- there are just so many circumstances and variables. It’s very real, and maybe the bad guys aren’t as bad as they seem. But Zaheer does show his true colors in the end.
One last question! And I love asking people this: What is a non-Avatar show that you think Korra would be amazing in?
I feel like she and Ahsoka would be buds! I just feel like she would be like, ‘Yeah, I’ll go on this road trip ‘! I really see that.
