Seven Havens Producer Sehaj Sethi Explains Why Its Twin Avatars Are Only Nine

Avatar: Seven Havens deliberately made its new Avatars, twins Pavi and Nisha, nine years old. Co-executive producer Sehaj Sethi told CBR's Katie Doll that from the first talks about the series, it was important to her that the twins be young.

Sethi became a mom while making the show. Looking at her kids, she feels she is handing them a broken world she couldn't fix, and she feels the same about Pavi and Nisha. That has been a guiding light for her. The idea that kids are spared adult problems just isn't true, she argued.

"We don't shy away from darker and more sobering stories just because they're nine," Sethi said, adding that the series was meant for a seven-year-old but also a 70-year-old. Families can check our parents guide.

Sethi said the show embraced its disability, LGBTQ+ and South Asian representation from the start. Per CBR, Pavi and Nisha are South Asian and Ellora draws on South Asian culture. Pavi is an amputee, and her voice actor, Saheli Khan, hopes viewers see that what makes them different also makes them powerful.

Jae, Sethi said, was always going to be a character with a boyfriend. CBR calls Jae and Datu the first LGBTQ+ couple in the on-screen franchise, since Korra and Asami's relationship was only implied in The Legend of Korra before the creators confirmed it. Aishu Devan, who voices Nisha, praised the show for not making the relationship its focus: "He's just Jae." Iroh's voice actor Greg Baldwin has defended the show's gay and disabled characters.

In an earlier Polygon interview cited by Nerdist, Sethi said Ellora was first inspired by India's Ellora Caves, an ancient complex of monasteries and temples, and gave its motto as Ellora must survive. Executive producer Ethan Spaulding put its population at over 1,000,000.