Avatar: The Last Airbender looking for blind Asian actress to play Toph

Last year, Netflix debuted its live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the popular animated adventure series that first ran on Nickelodeon in the mid-2000s. Reviews were split, with many praising the look of the show but some dinging it for losing the buoyant spirit of the original. Still, the show was successful enough that Netflix renewed it for two more seasons, which means we're going to see the whole story reproduced in live-action.

That also means we're going to meet Toph in the second season. Toph is a young blind earthbender who joins Aang and company as Aang continues his quest to master control of all four elements and defeat the tyrannical Fire Nation. She's brash, blunt, funny and unyielding, a marked contrast with the mild, pacifistic Aang. Everyone's looking forward to seeing how the show handles Toph.

And now we're a bit closer to finding out. Supervising producer Teresa Huang put out a casting call for Toph on Twitter/X:

"We're starting our casting search for TOPH! We are determined (myself especially) to find a young Asian actress who is actually blind or low vision. If you know someone with dance and/or martial arts experience, please forward, even if they've never done any acting before."

Because Toph is a child, the actress who ends up playing her need not necessarily have any acting experience. When you cast a character this young, often you just have to find someone who already is the character out in the real world. I want to meet the real Toph. Applicants are encouraged to write the casting department at DTCOpenCall@gmail.com with a picture and brief biography, together with contact information.

If Netflix is just now looking for someone to play Toph, an important character with a lot to do, they're probably still some ways out from turning on the cameras. We likely won't be seeing a second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender until late 2025 at the earliest, and quite possibly it won't be out until later than that.

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