There's no denying that Avatar: The Last Airbender has become a pop culture phenomenon in recent years. After the series ended in 2008, it wasn't long before fans were clamoring for more. And now Avatar's co-creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino have returned to the franchise by developing a sequel series, The Legend of Korra , debuting this weekend on Nickelodeon.

I had the pleasure of speaking with the voice of Korra Janet Varney . If you don't recall the name, you might recognize some of her work: TBS'sand, to name a few. She's also an accomplished performer in the national comedy scene (and after a few minutes of chatting with her, this comes as no surprise).As a fan of the show herself, Janet had plenty to say about her time in the studio as Korra.

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I love that question because it makes it sound like I am so awesome that I get to pick and choose my projects. I don't. [Laughs] I auditioned for it. I'm a huge Nickelodeon fan, and it was really exciting for me when I was brought into the Nickelodeon community and started to audition for projects. I love doing voiceover. I would have loved to have done anything for the network. But I will say that I unequivocally lucked out and got the best job in the world. It's a lot more than I ever could have hoped for. I would have been really, really fine just being a side character who pops in and recurs on something goofy. The fact that I was invited to join this incredibly fantastic and iconic, pre-existing world and allowed to put a new spin on it by introducing this great new generation of characters is just -- I'm still kind of getting over it. It's been a little while since we started recording, so I don't know why the shine hasn't worn off. But it has not.

The Legend of Korra: Series Premiere Review

I'm not even going to tell you the answer to that. Because I don't even want people to know when this thing starts or ends or where it's going or anything. But we've got a really great season.I was. I wasn't as knowledgable. I have friends who are super diehard fans. I had started watching the series and fell in love with it. Then the audition came up, and I became really afraid of how much I wanted it. But it's such a great series. It's wonderful. To me, the real genius in making television for kids is making something that inadvertently -- or perhaps intentionally -- becomes something that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It's got such a broad appeal, above and beyond it's target demographic (for lack of a better term). But the fact that it extends beyond that is just such a joy.Well, I can't take too much credit for that because I think Michael and Bryan are always so careful and so focused about what their intention for these characters was and for this world. They don't pander, and I think that's so admirable -- and it pays off in spades. I think that in a strange way that sort of reflects back to me and my feelings about kids in general. They are incredibly smart and incredibly intuitive. They're sponges, and they're learning faster than we'll ever be able to again for the rest of our adult lives. They know what's up. But goofy voices are great! I'm not in any way saying that it's not fun to have goofy cartoon voices. I love doing them, and I love watching them. But I also love that with this particular show, they were like, "No, she's a girl. She needs to sound like a teenage girl. She doesn't need to sound kooky." When we talk to kids, we can talk to them with our regular voices. They're hip to it, you know what I mean?Yes, that is not the case. Nickelodeon is so, so smart and so great about putting as many of us in a room as can be there at any one time because they understand the value of really acting in an ensemble. I think there are moments that can be found in those processes that are really, really hard to achieve when you're a lone wolf in a booth. Having said that, people that are great at just being able to go in and be in a booth by themselves are my heroes because it's that much harder to really give a great, authentic performance. But we're very lucky in that there's a lot of time and care put into scheduling so that P.J. [Byrne], David [Faustino ] and I can be together and J.K. Simmons can be there whenever possible. Just really getting that relationship happening live is such a gift to us.

Continue to Page 2, in which Janet describes what's in store for the rest of Season 1 as well as her favorite type of bending!