With production on Avatar: The Lastbender underway, Netflix has posted an opening casting call for Toph its Season 2 of its live-action series.
As spotted by Comicbook.com, the open-casting search describes toph as "mid-late teens, blind, female, Asian."
"She is sassy, confident, and unfiltered," the character description reads. "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."
Actos who are blind or low vision are encouraged to submit their applications, while dance and/or martial arts experience is "a plus."
For anyone familiar with the anime series, the character description is pretty in line with the source material. Toph actually isn't introduced in the anime until Season 2, which is why we didn't meet her in the first season of the live-action series. Despite her late introduction, Toph actually becomes a major character in the series as she becomes Aang's teacher for Earthbending.
Toph, who is nlind since birth, discovers badgermoles, earthbending animals who are also blind, and learns to use earthbending as an extension of her senses. This gives herself the ability to "see" every vibration that passes through the ground. One of the most powerful benders, Toph also discovers metalbending.
Netflix has not yet announced specifics for Season 2 of its Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series, such as a release date, but the casting call does note that shooting is anticipated for "Fall 2024." This would suggest a release in late 2025 at the earliest.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 debuted in February and amassed 41.1 million views in just the first 11 days. Despite condensing some of storylines from the original animated series, the series adaptation was still well-received by fans, scoring a solid 73% audience score.
However, critics were not as impressed. The first season sits at a 59% rating from critics who did acknowledge that it's a "solid live-action entry point" to the franchise, but it doesn't quite hit the same magical notes. The critics consensus reads: "Avatar: The Last Airbender serves as a solid live-action entry point into the beloved franchise, although it only sporadically recaptures the magic of its source material."
Based on the popular animated fantasy action television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in a fictional fantasy world where human civilization is divided into four nations based on the four classical elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. In each nation, some people known as "benders" can telekinetically manipulate one of the four elements. Aang, however, is the titular Avatar, which means he's the only one capable of mastering all four.