Netflix has cast Miya Cech (Surfside Girls, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Always Be My Maybe) as the best character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the earth bender Toph Beifong. What? I said what I said. Production for Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is underway, with the show already renewed for a third and final season. Netflix revealed Cech’s casting on Thursday as part of Netflix’s Geeked Week live event with a teaser featuring Cech as the beloved badass.
As the classic Avatar theme swells, the camera slowly pans along the ground in the Avatar: The Last Airbender production teaser. When the song’s intensity increases, we see Toph’s signature green-colored wrapping around Cech’s bare feet. Before the teaser ends, Cech draws a line in the dirt, daring enemies to cross it before stomping the earth, sending debris flying into the air. After that, the hairs on my arms stood on end, and I might have let out a little squeal of delight. I don’t know. Who can say? You can’t prove anything.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Toph Beifong is a blind teenager who (eventually) agrees to train Aang in the ancient art of earth-bending. According to the Casting Call: “She is sassy, confident and unfiltered. For most of her life her strength and formidable earthbending skills have been suppressed, but now on the run as the Avatar’s earthbending master she is uninhibited to become the fierce warrior she believes she is inside.”
“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world,” reads the official description. “With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang, a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka and Katara, siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai. But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.”
Miya Cech’s casting for Avatar: The Last Airbender is giving me life this Friday afternoon. Not only is Toph my favorite character in the series, but Miya Cech is a brilliant actress who will undoubtedly crush the role. Let’s go!