Picture: Miya Cech / Nickelodeon
During Geeked Week 2024, Netflix announced that Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 has officially started production, with Miya Cech cast as fan-favorite Toph.
After a successful debut season earlier this year, Netflix renewed Avatar: The Last Airbender through to its natural conclusion. Season 1 received good reviews overall, with critics enjoying the reimagined live-action version of the beloved Nickelodeon series. Of course, the adaptation did get a little backlash due to the darker tone and myriad changes to the beloved source material. For the most part, however, it was a big success story for Netflix, and the numbers reflect this. Avatar topped Netflix’s global chart from February 19–25, gaining 154.4 million hours watched by a staggering 21.2 million viewers in its first week.
Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 casts Miya Cech as Toph Beifong
Credit: Netflix
The show-stopping announcement at Geeked Week undoubtedly unveiled Miya Cech as the fan-favorite star of Toph Beifong. Miya Cech is a 17-year-old American actress best known for her role as Zu in The Darkest Minds (2018). She already has one Netflix credit, having appeared in Rim of the World — a teen movie about an alien invasion.
Cech said on her casting:
“I’ve been in boot camp for about a week and a half now and still have a lot of work to do, but it’s super fun. I have some martial arts experience. I have a great instructor who I take private classes with back home in Northern California, and he keeps me in shape when I’m not working. I also have some dance experience from when I was younger that has been very helpful as I learn about Toph’s movements.” Cech will also work with a producer and consultant who is blind and a professional from the blindness community, to make sure the blindness community is represented appropriately.
I personally am of Chinese and Japanese American descent and I’m so excited to represent my Chinese heritage in Toph Beifong. One of the most incredible aspects of this show is the diversity of the Asian cultures in the ATLA world. Even though the universe is fantasy, it feels like every culture is represented in some way and tied to the history and traditions of that culture or country. Just a few years ago, you might have seen one or two of these actors in a show or movie, but on this show we are all able to represent this world together and work together and collaborate. It’s really amazing and a gift as an actor.”
In addition to her casting, Netflix released a small teaser clip of Toph in action:
When Netflix sent out an open casting call for Toph, it became one of the most sought-after roles in the streamer’s history. So many names were floating around, notably Diana Tsoy, who posted a fantastic clip as her as the character to YouTube, quickly gathering wide acclaim. Tsoy went after the role, but ultimately shared that she was unsuccessful in her pursuit. All of this to say, the role is hugely highly coveted.
So, who is Toph? For those of you who haven’t seen the original show, Toph Beifong is introduced in season 2. Despite being blind, she’s an immensely powerful earth-bender, and she learns to bend by utilizing seismic sense. Toph quickly becomes a key figure in Team Avatar. Toph adds her signature wit to the group. Her sarcastic, snappy, and direct nature creates the perfect blend of personalities within the group. Her introduction is regarded as one of the best the show has to offer. Take a look — we can’t wait to see this play out in live-action!
Miya Cech will no doubt be a stellar addition to the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 will add a number of new, original characters, including two new Generals by the names of General Song and General Chan. There’s also a new character called Bone Saw, who sounds like they could one of the professional benders Toph fights in her introductory tournament. Visit here for our full list of new and returning characters.
Looking ahead to season 2, Avatar has some of its best stories still to tell. In season 1 — or ‘Book 1’ — Aang (Gordon Cormier) learned to master the element of water. In the upcoming season, the story delves deeper into the Earth Kingdom, specifically the corrupt capital of Ba Sing Se, where he will master earth-bending. And of course, threats from the Fire Nation remain at large. Princess Azula (Elizabeth Yu) has seized control of Omashu and is determined to capture Aang once and for all. Meanwhile, both Zuko (Dallas Liu) and Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) are living in exile after their failure to capture Aang in season 1. Plus, the show will also introduce fan-favorite earth-bender Toph Beifong!
During Netflix’s Geeked Week event, Avatar stars Dallas Liu and Ian Ousley (Sokka) took to the stage to reveal that production is officially underway on the new batch of episodes.
Executive Producers Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani said on the start of production:
“We’re looking forward to working with all of our actors again and digging into the deeper, more complicated relationships that develop as their journey continues in Season 2. We are going to show the real-world versions of iconic scenes from the original, and explore some of the stories that the animation didn’t. Mainly — we’re looking forward to seeing our gang all together again.
We’re going to challenge our characters with more complex and nuanced obstacles as they navigate a more tactile world. Just as the animated series matured and progressed, the live-action will also take these characters and worlds and grow them.
We make a point of reviewing submissions separately and after countless tapes, we both had the same reaction … Miya is our Toph! Miya is a brilliant performer who knows how to precisely balance the sarcastic sense of humor, stubbornness, and vulnerability that is Toph Beifong. Her physicality and emotional dexterity really put her in a class of one”
The new episodes will be filmed in the show’s usual production location of Vancouver, Canada. We can expect filming to last for a while. Filming will continue for six months into the new year. The final completion date is estimated to be around March 2025. Netflix hasn’t set a release date yet; you can expect one much later down the line.
What do you think of Avatar: The Last Airbender casting Miya Cech? Let us know in the comments below!
