Avatar: Seven Havens’ Gay Couple Is ‘Not a Huge Deal,’ Says Jae’s Voice. Iroh’s Second Voice Answered a Critic Online

Major Curda, who voices Jae in Avatar: Seven Havens, called the show’s gay couple “not a huge deal” at New York Comic Con. A few days after the series began, Greg Baldwin, who took over the voice of Uncle Iroh in the original series, answered a critic on X in two short lines.

Avatar: Seven Havens arrived on Paramount+ on Friday, 9 October, with three episodes. By the start of this week the story around it was not about the animation or the plot. It was about two voice actors and one scene, and about how performers talk when a clip of their work goes round the internet.

A kiss on the cheek, then a debate

The scene is small. In the early episodes, Datu spots Jae, runs to him and pulls him into a close embrace. Before Jae heads off, he gives Datu a quick goodbye kiss on the cheek. PinkNews, which reported it on 12 October, describes the pair as a canon gay couple, and says the clip went viral with fans posting reactions. One reply read, “Jae and Datu are so cute I love them.”

Image: Paramount+ and Avatar Legends, New York Comic Con 2026 panel

Not every reaction was warm. The Federalist published a piece the same day, headlined “Paramount’s New Avatar Series Forces LGBT Ideology On Kids”, arguing the show pushes LGBT themes on children. On X, one user wrote about the series’ main characters: “Avatar’s Team. Pavi: disabled. Jae: LGBTQ. This is supposed to be a kids’ show by the way.” Pavi, the young Earthbender at the centre of the story, wears a prosthetic leg.

Image: Paramount+ and Avatar Legends

That post reached Greg Baldwin, who voiced Uncle Iroh in the original series. According to PinkNews, which reported it on 13 October, he replied: “Hi! Second voice of Uncle Iroh here. So sorry LGBTQ and disabled people exist. That must be traumatic for you.” The exchange went another round after the critic said representation should not overshadow the plot, and Baldwin answered that line too.

The voices behind the characters

The people who actually voice the show have been more measured than that reply. At New York Comic Con, Major Curda told the panel that the relationship was “not a huge deal”, and, as The Hollywood Reporter quoted him, added: “Jae is a character. Here is this new character Datu, their boyfriend. It’s just such a wonderful exemplification of love is love.” Topher Ngo voices Datu, and Saheli Khan, in her first screen role, voices Pavi, as Voice Over Herald reported when the show began.

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There is a difference worth noticing between the two kinds of voices here. Curda spoke on a stage, with the producers beside him and a moderator’s question to answer. Baldwin is not in Seven Havens at all. He spoke as a former cast member of the franchise, in a reply box, to a stranger. Both ended up in the same news story within 24 hours.

Notice, too, how Baldwin opened. He did not start with his name. He started with his credit: “Second voice of Uncle Iroh here.” For a voice actor, the character is the introduction, and in a fandom this size it carries more weight than a biography would.

What the exchange says about working in public

For working voice actors the useful lesson is not the argument itself. It is how fast a line travels. A convention answer, recorded on video and sent to a trade outlet, became a headline. A single post on X became a second headline a day later.

The franchise has also prepared its audience for this conversation before. PinkNews notes that The Legend of Korra ended with Korra and Asami in a romantic relationship, and that the original series featured Toph, a blind character. Seven Havens is the newest show in a universe that has been mixing those themes into children’s animation for years.

No statement from Paramount or the show’s creators about the reaction appears in the coverage we read. What exists on the record is what the performers said themselves, and this story sticks to that.

What comes next for the show

The series has already been renewed. At New York Comic Con on 9 October, Paramount+ announced two more seasons, Books 3 and 4, and a new series, Avatar Kuruk: Wave of Chaos, billed as the Avatar universe’s first action comedy. More Seven Havens episodes are due in the coming weeks, so the cast will keep meeting fans, panels and comment threads for a while. Paramount+ also announced a Seven Havens podcast with cast and creators, which gives the actors more room to talk about their characters in their own words.

Image: Paramount+ and Avatar Legends

For Curda, Ngo, Khan and the rest, that means a long run of public questions about characters they only voice.

Sources: PinkNews (12 and 13 October 2026, including posts on X it quotes), The Hollywood Reporter as quoted by PinkNews, The Federalist (12 October 2026), Yahoo Entertainment’s report of the New York Comic Con panel (9 October 2026), Voice Over Herald (10 October 2026). Images: Paramount+ and Avatar Legends, from the official Seven Havens reveal and New York Comic Con panel videos.

Lee este artículo en español: La voz de Jae dice que la pareja gay de Avatar: Seven Havens 'no es gran cosa'. La segunda voz de Iroh le respondió a un crítico

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