Avatar: Seven Havens Review: Franchise Goes Postapocalyptic — SkimNews
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- "Avatar: Seven Havens" debuts on Paramount+ more than two centuries after "The Legend of Korra" wrapped in 2014, set in a wasteland born of an environmental cataclysm Korra is blamed for causing
- Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko created the series through Avatar Studios, with Ethan Spaulding as executive producer and franchise composer Jeremy Zuckerman shifting to a more electronic-leaning score
- The four-nation cosmology is replaced by city-state havens sheltering refugees from sandstorms, with the Avatar reimagined as a stigmatized bogeyman absent for generations and bending abilities in decline
- New protagonist Pavi, voiced by Saheli Khan, is an Ellora orphan with hidden multi-element bending who expands the franchise's existing cultural blend with South Asian references like kachoris and Korean dishes
- The series' visual palette shifts to oranges and pinks of a Saharan expanse populated by monkey-tailed cats and ball-rolling camels, imagery the reviewer compared to HBO Max's short-lived "Scavengers Reign"
- The first three episodes are streaming on Paramount+, with remaining episodes airing weekly in batches of three on Fridays
Why it matters: With Seven Havens placing a hero younger than 12-year-old Aang in a darker, postapocalyptic setting, Avatar Studios is making a deliberate bid for a new generation of kids after the recent Paramount live-action film largely served existing fans — and the reviewer's verdict so far is cautiously optimistic, though the central team "hasn't quite coalesced" in the six episodes screened.
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