Janet Varney: The Legacy of Avatar Korra

It was my tremendous pleasure to interview Janet Varney! She is an Emmy nominated actor, voice artist, musician, writer, producer and dog-owner. You may know her from The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Stan Against Evil, and as the voice of Avatar Korra in The Legend of Korra!

We talked about the impact of playing a character like Korra, who has such a huge impact on so many people. How that changed her as a person and as an actor. The wider legacy of the show in the upcoming comics, how Korrasami affected animation at large. Also, we delved into how women are treated in the industry and what sorts of roles are becoming available.

Check it out here, and there’s an abridged transcript below.

The Korra Comics

JC: It’s been 2 years since Korra ended, but it’s still a big deal and attracts huge crowds at conventions. I couldn’t get into the panel at New York Comic Con!

JV: Yeah, that was a fun one, but the room was a little small. That was something Dark Horse was thinking was ‘did we do the right sized room for this?’ And I was like ‘I don’t know! It might be a little small!’

JC: That was introducing the (Legend of Korra) comics. How much of the comics have you seen?

JV: I haven’t seen anything more than the rest of the world has seen. The stuff that we were playing around with at the panel was just stuff that’s since become available, or has been out there for people to enjoy. We gave away a bunch of fun Avatar and Korra related books. The poster book was pretty new and that’s just absolutely stunning.

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