This article includes spoilers for The Legend of Korra. Janet Varney and Dante Basco aren’t just stars of beloved animated epics The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender, respectively, they are also hosts of Nickelodeon’s Avatar companion podcast, Braving the Elements – a status that makes them, as they joke, Ph.D. holders in “Avatarism.” The show is dedicated to all things Avatar and season 4 is set to dive into the 2012 sequel series, The Legend of Korra.  Den of Geek spoke with Varney (Korra) and Basco (Zuko) ahead of the podcast’s season 4 premiere to discuss their early reactions to seeing Korra (which Basco is watching for the first time), the possibility of a comic season of the podcast, and their advice for the star of upcoming sequel Avatar: Seven Havens. DEN OF GEEK: For the podcast you’re both starting your journey into watching Korra. How did you feel when, in Korra’s first episode, they just brushed away that long-held question of “Whatever happened to Zuko’s mom?” Dante Basco: I don’t know if I was prepared or not, but I already knew. I already went through the comics [which finally answered that question]. I was fine with that because I’m hip to the situation.  Janet Varney: I think by that time [creators and showrunners] Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko knew that answer was going to be very available. So they intentionally planted it in [the Korra premiere] as like a little tip of the hat. Dante Basco: A little wink to the audience. Obviously the podcast still has a lot to cover with Korra but, speaking of the comics, do you have any plans for how you’ll tackle them in the future? Could this possibly be a good chance to get an official radio play of those comics out there? JV: Oooo, a radio play would be fun. Talking about the comics has definitely been something that we talked about from the beginning. It’s just a matter of timing and what the powers that be decide about the when’s and how’s of it all. But we’ve weaseled in as much as we can on the podcast with people like [comic writers] Faith Erin Hicks and Gene Luen Yang. We’ve been like “come to the podcast, let’s lay the groundwork.” DB: A little radio play of the comics would be fun. JV: We did one for “Turf Wars” during the pandemic with Seychelle Gabriel [Asami], Mindy Sterling [Lin Beifong], David Faustino [Mako], and P. J. Byrne [Bolin]. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! There needs to be a version that comes with the book and it says, “when you hear the firebending sounds, turn the page.” DB: *firebending sounds* JV: Jeff Bennett [Radio broadcaster in Korra] can do all the stage directions! The just-announced Avatar: Seven Havens is set to be a sequel to Korra and will feature an Earthbender who discovers she’s the next Avatar. What advice do you two have to whoever ends up playing this new Avatar?  JV: Get ready for a wild ride, my friend. DB: Take it in stride. Have a good time on the journey. It’s a journey – the whole thing. You get to go through the show, the fanbase, and just being a part of this wonderful world. Janet, do you remember what you were told when you were brought in to do Korra? Especially since you were coming into a franchise that already had a huge fan base.  JV: When we had started recording, Sarah Noonan, who was heading up casting, grabbed me outside of Studio A, took me by the shoulders, looked deeply into my eyes and said, “Are you ready for your life to change?” I was like, “Sarah, I love you, but I’ve been told that before because it’s Hollywood.” Dante knows. DB: Sometimes it’s yourself telling you that. JV: So you get really good at pushing that into the background. DB: You have to or we’d all be put away a long time ago. JV: But Sarah was more right than anyone ever has been. Yes, my life is completely different and so much of my life is connected to this thing that she was dead-on about. DB: No one told me that at all, not even Mike and Bryan. No one knew this was gonna happen the way it happened. It was like, “we’re doing a show. We all have done shows, so let’s just have a good time.” I don’t think anyone was prepared for it to be what it became. Truly. Janet, due to events in – Foreshadow Report! – the Korra series, this new Avatar in Seven Havens is not going to have the ability to call on all the past Avatars. What do you think an Avatar will be like with only Korra to call on for advice? JV: First of all, I just want to point out: it’s not Korra’s fault. I just wanna cover my bases. Let me just go ahead and remind everyone that losing that connection to the past Avatars was definitely not her fault. You wanna go ahead and blame someone? You can blame any number of people. You wanna blame Unalaq? Go for it. You wanna blame Vaatu? I welcome you to do so. DB: Vaatu for sure. Vaatu has the biggest blame in this situation. JV: At least Vaatu is …there has to be dark and light, right? But Unalaq? Gross ambition. Come on, guy. DB: These shady Waterbenders out there. There’s all these nice Waterbenders but when there’s bad apples it’s very bad. JV: Genuinely though: we don’t know any details about Seven Havens. Even if we did, we could not say! JV: Who knew that was such a dominant trait? DB: It’s such a dominant trait, it just happens in every generation. You talk about people reincarnating? That voice reincarnates every generation. If you get great grandpa’s voice? That means you’ve got to do something special in your life. Don’t squander that. What are you both most excited for people to hear in this upcoming season of the podcast? JV: Dante has been predicting what he thinks might happen. Every episode we revisit what he did predict for whatever Korra episode we’re watching and then we look to the future. I want to give you an extra shout out, buddy, because it’s not easy being wrong about something. But right after you found out you’re wrong about one prediction, now you have to make a new prediction about the episode. You showed up for that every time. It’s a decent track record. What’s the hit-to-miss ratio? DB: At least 50/50. JV: It might not be 50/50… but, yeah, you know what? Let’s call it 50/50!  DB: I’m excited for the whole audience to get into Korra again. It’s the 20th anniversary of Avatar and that’s amazing but going into revisiting (or for me, the first time) the Korra world in its entirety? It’s very fascinating to take a look at the Korra world in a new space and time. For fans of the podcast, they’ve seen me on the spot kind of defending Fire Nation for many years now. There are good folks in the Fire Nation! Some have economic anxiety. DB: Yeah, but I like to see Janet now a little bit on the hot seat. Not just Janet, I’m gonna have to throw the whole Water Tribe under that bus. There are some evil Waterbenders in Korra!  JV: What a gift we gave you. It’s like we made it for you. DB: There’s a whole world thinking ill thoughts of the Fire Nation and I want to point the camera a little at the Water Tribe for a while. JV: The whole Industrial Revolution thing has been so fun and great to dig into. It’s such a different piece to talk about with our guests. That setting is so rich and it’s something that we see the guests bringing up time and time again. It’s just an aspect of the show that really excites people because it’s closer to our technology. It opens up different perspectives from people on what is valuable about bending. I think it’s really fun to get into. The newest season of Braving the Elements is now available wherever you get your podcasts.

News Avatar: Braving the Elements Podcast Teases Korra Revelations in Season 4 Trailer Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender rewatch podcast is set to provide a behind the scenes look at The Legend of Korra. By Alec Bojalad | May 13, 2025 | | Photo: Nickelodeon Through three seasons and well over 100 episodes, Avatar: The Last Airbender companion podcast Avatar: Braving the Elements has faithfully recapped episodes of and expanded upon the lore for the all-time classic Nickelodeon animated series. Since the show finished covering The Last Airbender‘s third and final season last October, however, it’s been radio (or podcast) silent. After all, three seasons of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the TV show, means three seasons of Avatar: Braving the Elements, the podcast, right? Well, in the immortal words of Lee Corso: not so fast, my friend! Nickelodeon has now announced a May 20 release date for Avatar: Braving the Elements season 4, which will begin to delve into Avatar: The Last Airbender‘s first sequel Avatar: The Legend of Korra. Of course, Avatar: Braving the Elements moving on to Avatar: The Legend of Korra was always a part of the podcast’s long-term plan, as evidenced by the fact that Korra herself, Janet Varney, serves as the show’s co-host alongside Dante Basco. What fans couldn’t have fully anticipated though, is the lineup of Avatar stars, fans, and other luminaries that make up the guest list of this new season. Check them out below in the first trailer for Avatar: Braving the Elements season 4. The season’s first episode will feature Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko as they set the table for the four “books” of Korra to come. After that, things go in some pretty unexpected directions with Minnesota Twins pitcher Pablo López (who is boasting an impressive 2.18 Earned Run Average at press time) joining the discussion. Other guests include: Zach Tyler Eisen (voice of Aang), Steve Blum (voice of Amon), Mindy Sterling (voiced of Lin Beifong), Mick Foley (voice of the Boulder), Seychelle Gabriel (voice of Asami), Jeremy Zuckerman (music composer), Joaquim Dos Santos (director), Levon Hawke (Blink Twice, Avatarverse superfan), Maya Hawke (Stranger Things, Avatarverse superfan), and of course: the legendary cabbage merchant James Sie. While Varney should undoubtedly have a lot of compelling behind-the-scenes tidbits to share this time around, don’t sleep on Basco’s ability to crack the Korra code. The Zuko voice actor didn’t return for the sequel (with a more age-appropriate Bruce Davison taking over the role) and as such has not seen The Legend of Korra. It looks like the show will put that virginal status to good use, breaking out a “FORESHADOW REPORT” every time Basco stumbles upon something prophetic. Avatar: Braving the Elements season 4 premieres May 20 and will rollout weekly with video episodes on YouTube and audio episodes wherever podcasts are available. There is no word on how long this season will run but before you know it, Braving the Elements will be ready for its Seven Havens’ era.