Avatar: The Last Airbender casts Toph and begins production on season 2

This week is Geeked Week, which means we're getting a ton of exciting announcements for all of Netflix's biggest shows. From The Sandman to Avatar: The Last Airbender, One Piece, Squid Game, Arcane and more, the streamer has been dropping teasers, trailers, and reveals like crazy. We'll be going over all the biggest today, starting with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

There were two huge pieces of Avatar news that dropped last night. The first is that season 2 is officially in production! Check out the announcement teaser:

Executive producers Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani gave a few statements to Tudum.com about what fans can expect in season 2. “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.”

The pair also teased that season 2 will "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.”

Part of those challenges will be going to new places and meeting new people. Don't forget, the only way Aang can hope to stop the Fire Nation is by mastering all four elements. He already has a good grasp on air, and season 1 ended with him and his pals hanging out with the Northern Water Tribe where he can learn about water. That leaves earth and fire...and you may have noticed that teaser is very earthbender-themed. That's for good reason: the show has officially cast Toph, a beloved and very important earthbender from the animated series! In Netflix's live-action show, she'll be played by Miya Cech.

Whether that's actually Cech's foot in the trailer is beyond our sleuthing abilities to determine, but it's obviously meant to be Toph. In season 2, she will join Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katar (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) on their globetrotting adventure, where she might even teach Aang a trick or two about earthbending.

“We make a point of reviewing submissions separately and after countless tapes, we both had the same reaction ... Miya is our Toph!" said Boylan and Raisani. "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.”

Cech also talked about her preparations for the role. “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.”

That bit about Toph's movements is going to be interesting. In the animated series, Toph is blind. Cech is not, but according to Netflix's press release she will be working with a "producer and consultant who is blind and a professional from the blindness community, to make sure the blindness community is represented appropriately."

On the whole, it sounds like Cech is really excited to take on the role — and why wouldn't she be? Toph is one of the best characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender! “I personally am of Chinese and Japanese American descent and I’m so excited to represent my Chinese heritage in Toph Beifong,” Cech said. “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."

Now that Avatar: The Last Airbender is officially in production, it'll hopefully only be a matter of time till we hear more about season 2. Given the current trend of two-year gaps between big budget fantasy shows, I'd expect to be watching it sometime in 2026.

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