Netflix Enters Toph Times Of 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Season 2, Casting Miya Cech
The streamer paired the reveal with the start of production
You’re the best a-ground… the bend? Netflix held its annual Geeked Week event (apparently two months earlier than last year) with trickles of news earlier in the week leading to the livestreamed in-person event Thursday night. There, they revealed that their live action adaptation of Nicktoon Avatar: The Last Airbender was back in production for season 2, and that they have completed casting for Team Avatar. Miya Cech has been cast as Aang’s young, blind earthbending teacher Toph Beifong.
Cech has played the younger version of Ali Wong characters in the Netflix film Always Be My Maybe and last year’s limited series Beef. It was around the time of the former that she starred in Nickelodeon’s short-lived drama The Astronauts. She also was a lead on the Apple TV+ children’s adventure series Surfside Girls, and recently seen in another Netflix film, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. Her co-star Samantha Lorraine was recently cast to play Dora Marquez in the next Dora the Explorer live-action film, Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado, coming to Nickelodeon and Paramount+.
Toph was the one major character introduced in the second season of the original Nicktoon whose introduction was not moved up in Netflix’s live action series. Born blind to a wealthy and overprotective family, Toph uses her earthbending essentially as her eyes to sense the world around her. For most of her life her strength and earthbending skills were suppressed by her aristocratic parents who did not understand her capabilities in self-education (or at least finding the education from badger moles on her own) and adaptation, believing her blindness to be more disabling than it actually ended up being. Toph is even considered a prodigy. Found by Aang, Katara, and Sokka in an underground competition, she essentially runs away with them to become Aang’s Earthbending teacher in their quest to master the elements and defeat Fire Lord Ozai. The freedom allows her to build herself up to become the “fierce warrior” she knows herself to be. She manages to become the discoverer of the next evolution in earthbending when her parents attempt to get her home.
After the series was renewed to completion in March, showrunner Albert Kim stepped down a month later, and Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani ascended to lead the show as executive producers going forward. Kim remains an executive producer. Along with Kim, Boylan, Raisani, Dan Lin (who has become Netflix's head of film) and Lindsey Liberatore executive produce on behalf of Rideback, with Michael Goi also executive producing. Goi and Raisiani directed the first four episodes of the first season, each getting their own pairs. Roseanne Liang and Jet Wilkinson finished the season with their own pairs.
Set in a mystical world where people can manipulate, or bend, the elements, 12-year-old Aang, played by Gordon Cormier, awakens to waterbenders Katara, played by Kiawentiio, and Sokka, played by Ian Ousley from a self-induced century-long icy stasis to discover that his airbending people have been genocided. The Fire Nation is encroaching on global domination. As the Avatar, who can bend all four elements known at the time, Aang must bring balance to the world and works with his friends to defeat the efforts of Fire Lord Ozai, played by Daniel Dae Kim. The Fire Nation cast is rounded out by Dallas Liu, who plays Prince Zuko, Elizabeth Yu as Azula, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh, Thalia Tran as Mai, and Momona Tamada as Ty Lee. Maria Zhang will likely be back as Suki, Kyoshi Warrior and Sokka’s love interest as well.
Netflix marked the start of production on the second season with a teaser that featured the Earth Kingdom symbol and only Toph’s feet as she did some Earthbending.
Source: Variety