8 Fascinating “Avatar: Seven Havens” Behind-The-Scenes Stories From The Creators And Cast

Return to HomepageEntertainment: 'Breaking Bad' actor RJ Mitte diesNathan Fielder's 'masterpiece'Shane Gillis 'SNL' backlashHarry, Meghan and the holidaysElizabeth HolmesChastain’s creepy smileCelebs making literature chicKelly Clarkson's shop fight'Social Reckoning' flopsGillis on 'SNL'It was another action-packed New York Comic Con, and I was SO excited to see that the cast and crew of Avatar: Seven Havens would be there.Paramount+ / Via Paramount+

We ATLA fans have been blessed with some incredible projects this year, including Avatar Aang and Seven Havens. And, with the recently announced Avatar Kuruk: Wave of Chaos, it's certainly an exciting time to be a fan.

(L-R) Ethan Spaulding, Saheli Khan, Major Curda, Aishu Devan, Michael Dante DiMartino, Sehaj Sethi, and Bryan Konietzko.

Here's everything we unpacked about Pavi, Nisha, Jae, and the world of Ellora.

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Mike: This was an old idea we had from years prior that we never fully turned into anything — this idea of seeing what a post-apocalyptic Avatar world would look like. Shortly after, we came up with the big concept: What if there were two Avatars? What could we do with that?

Bryan: As Mike said, we had this idea right after the original series. It was 2008, and it wasn't the right story to tell when we got to make Korra, so we sort of put it on the back burner.

We were developing all these projects at once at Avatar Studios in 2021, and we found ourselves going back to that old idea. It wasn't the exact same thing, but we did bring a lot of that in.

That came in with new thoughts we had about what happened after The Legend of Korra, and this rapid acceleration of technological development. It was a really fun, fertile ground for a lot of ideas. You never know when old ideas will come back. I tell the students I lecture to: "Keep every idea, keep every sketch. Don't judge it. Just get it down, put it away, and keep it archived."

Bryan: I'll have to pick two: Geet and Ruhi, the cat monkeys. They're based on my cats, and I helped design them. La Chouette, the animation studio, did such a beautiful job.

Mike: I'll slightly sidestep it by saying I love the relationship between the sisters, and how it evolves and devolves and grows. Definitely inspiring to watch and heartbreaking, and all the emotions.

(L-R) Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Ethan Spaulding, Sehaj Sethi, and Janet Varney.

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Sehaj: Mike and Bryan brought a bit of an idea for us, and I really connected to this concept of two young people facing a chaotic world and being tasked to fix it. At the time, I was just about to have kids, so that really spoke to me.

In a way, I felt very much like a mom with Pavi and Nisha. I was thinking, I want you to be brave enough, kind enough, and strong enough to make this world better, and I feel the same way with my own children. That was what really pulled me to the story of Seven Havens.

Ethan: I found the idea very intriguing from the start, in that there were twins. How can there be two Avatars? That was the hook for me when I came in.

Ethan: For each haven, we had to figure out its entire culture and the state of mind of its citizens. That was a big task because we spent so much time developing Ellora. (Laughs) We were like, "Oh no, we have six more. How are we going to cram all this in?"

Sehaj: I always start by thinking, What are the characters doing? What do they need? Where are we going with them? That was my grounding factor. You see it in those first three episodes: What do these characters want?

Nisha really wants to be the Avatar, but part of that just comes from wanting to be accepted. She wants to be part of this world. Pavi really wants family. She wants community. In a way, they both want similar things, and that helped us figure out things beyond this massive universe.

What is going to drive them through this entire series? That's kind of where I start, with a microcosm, and then looking at the macrocosm after that.

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Ethan: For me, it's got to be Pavi, just because of her personality and the way her arc unfolds. We start with her, and we really get to see her evolution.

Sehaj: I almost don't want to try to pick one of the girls because I feel like that's not fair. I'm gonna go with Jae because I'm really proud of him. I'm really proud of that character, what we put him through, and how he gets through. I have a very, very soft place in my heart for Jae.

Saheli (Pavi): I really wanted to capture Pavi's bubbly, whimsical essence. I got to discover more about her as I kept on recording — and getting to grow alongside her is such an amazing and memorable experience.

Aishu (Nisha): Nisha has this hard shell from her determination. She needs to be the best Avatar she can be. There's no space for feelings — just work, work, work, fight, fight, fight.

I think her vulnerability underneath is so beautiful, and I love bringing that to the character. I also love seeing how she opens up and finds who she really is, beyond the fact that she's the Avatar. There are so many layers to Nisha, and that was great to keep on discovering.

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Major (Jae): As I started, I noticed how much influence I saw from so many other characters in the Avatar universe. When I was first reading the script, I was like, "Oh my gosh, this character Jae has a little bit of Sokka. There's a little bit of Katara. There's a little bit of Bolin. There's a little bit of Tenzin."

Something really important to me was honoring those characters as part of this world's palette, while also bringing myself to the role.

While there are hopefully these little lovable things, like a little bit of Sokka-esque sarcasm or a little bit of Katara-esque mothering, I wanted Jae to still feel like a completely brand new character.

– Jeremy Zuckerman on composing Seven Havens and Avatar Aang

Avatar: The Last Airbender 20th Anniversary:

– Bryan Konietzko/Mike DiMartino on creating Avatar: The Last Airbender

– Andrea Romano on directing Avatar: The Last Airbender

– Jeremy Zuckerman on composing Avatar: The Last Airbender

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