'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Season 2 Casts The Earth King, Long Feng, Joo Dee And More
Find out who Miya Cech’s Toph Beifong will be mothered by and who will be her Boulder in the live action Netflix series
I heard it through the leaves from the vine: Netflix is Dai Li-ng in on casting the prominent members of the Earth Kingdom for the second season of its Avatar: The Last Airbender adaptation, continuing the adventures of Aang, Sokka, and Katara. Eight new cast members have been announced.
The live action adaptation of the beloved Nicktoon is welcoming Chin Han, Hoa Xuande, Justin Chien, Amanda Zhou, Crystal Yu, Kelemete Misipeka, Lourdes Faberes, and Rekha Sharma. Han is probably best known as Shang Tsung in the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot directed by Simon McQuoid, a role he will reprise in next year’s sequel. His most recent television role was as Simon Wang, Jin's father on the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, having starred on Netflix’s Marco Polo as Jia Sidao and appeared in multiple episodes of Arrow and The Blacklist, also appearing in films like The Dark Knight and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He will play Long Feng, the corrupt leader of the Dai Li, Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se’s secret police. The character was originally voiced by Clancy Brown. Xuande is coming off of HBO’s The Sympathizer and has Netflix live action adaptation experience as Lin in Cowboy Bebop. He will play Professor Zei, head of the anthropology department at Ba Sing Se University. His name might not be familiar but he was the one obsessed with finding Wan Shi Tong’s Library, ultimately staying behind. The owl-appearing spirit of knowledge made an earlier appearance in this series than the source material, voiced by Randall Duk Kim. He warned Aang of the dangers he, Sokka, and Katara will face in the spirit world in the fifth episode “Spirited Away”.
Mai And Ty Lee Confirmed For Live Action 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Season 1 Hours Before Release
Chien is probably best known to American audiences playing Charles Sun in the Netflix series The Brothers Sun, and will play Earth King Kuei, whose name even most fans might not remember, as opposed to his bear BFF Bosco. He was originally voiced by Phil LaMarr. Zhou, who has appeared in a few episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, will play Joo Dee, a public servant and guide for important visitors in Ba Sing Se with many many backups. The many Joo Dee were voiced by Lauren Tom.
Yu, who has appeared in Good Omens and played Madam Ching in the Doctor Who episode “Legend of the Sea Devils” will play Lady Beifong, Toph’s mother. In the animated series, her name was Poppy and she was voiced by Gabrielle Carteris. Misipeka, who has two episodes of Ray Donovan and voicing an Easter Island Head in Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again to his name will play The Boulder, a professional earthbending wrestler and one of Toph’s opponents in Earth Rumble VI. Fabres has also appeared in Good Omens as well as The Sandman, will play General Sung, a high-ranking Earth Army commander in the Council of Five, while Sharma, whose credits include Battlestar Galactica and Yellowjackets will play a new character named Amita. Netflix announced the castings soon after they hit the trades, with all eight faces.
Miya Cech was previously announced to be playing Toph Beifong, Aang’s Earthbending teacher and the fourth member of Team Avatar. In addition to Wan Shi Tong, the Cave of Two Lovers and the bard Team Avatar met in the second season episode of the same name were also incorporated sooner, as well as two major characters: Mai and Ty Lee, played by Thalia Tran and Momona Tamada respectively. They are the best friends and closest confidants of Princess Azula, played by Elizabeth Yu, and are seemingly confirmed to be promoted to series regulars.
Renewed for season three to reach completion, Avatar: The Last Airbender also stars Gordon Cormier as Aang, Kiawentiio as Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Uncle Iroh, and Daniel Dae Kim as Firelord Ozai. Jabbar Raisani and Christine Boylan are executive producers and showrunners on the series. Albert Kim, who is the last of the live-action version’s developers, stepped down after showrunning last season but stays involved as an executive producer along with Dan Lin, Ryan Halprin, and Brendan Ferguson.
Source: Variety