Since its return to Netflix, Avatar: The Last Airbender has more than proven that it’s stood the test of time, quickly becoming one of the streaming platform’s top series. Part of the show’s charm is its humor, with comedy coming on strong even in the most trying situations. And the perfect example of this is the “Cabbage Guy,” who seems to pop up in just about every city Aang and his friends visit, and becomes the butt of the joke each time is cabbage cart is destroyed by Team Avatar.
James Sie voiced the cabbage merchant in the animated series, and as it ends up, he’d be game to reprise the role in Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation. It seems like perfect timing for Sie, who is now nearing the age of his onscreen character, despite having been much younger than the man when the original series first aired.
“I will cultivate that little beard if they need me to,” Sie told Slate. “And because my face is quite expressive, I’m perfect for a live-action version of an animated show. I’m ready.”
Someone get this man a cabbage cart!
In all seriousness, this is the sort of Easter Egg fans would appreciate while jumping from the animated series to the live-action one. It’s the small details like this that will help make Netflix’s retelling of the story a success.
Sie actually didn’t think his character would be in more than one episode of the original show, so to now be discussing the possibility of returning for the remake is pretty cool. “I never invested too much in his backstory because I didn’t think he would be coming back,” Sie explained. “I just knew that he had a deep, abiding, somewhat strange attachment to his produce. That was my guiding principle, that he loved his cabbages. His life was cabbages.”
Of course, Sie’s character didn’t need a backstory to resonate with viewers. As the voice actor himself pointed out, the cabbage merchant is so relatable because we’ve all been in those situations where it seems nothing will ever go right. “He’s that encapsulation of all of our frustrations and exasperation. We are all the cabbage merchant.” Cheers to that!
It’s hard to imagine anyone could capture this fan-favorite side character as well as Sie, so hopefully he’ll be able to revisit the role soon. With casting still completely up in the air, anything’s possible.
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