Netflix‘s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” live-action series has added eight actors to the cast of Season 2, Variety has learned exclusively.
The new cast members are: Chin Han (“Mortal Kombat,” “Skyscraper”), Hoa Xuande (“The Sympathizer,” “Top of the Lake: China Girl”), Justin Chien (“The Brothers Sun,” “The Great Leap”), Amanda Zhou (“Spinning Out,” “The Handmaid’s Tale”), Crystal Yu (“Doctor Who,” “Good Omens”), Kelemete Misipeka (“Sons of Thunder,” “Ray Donovan” ), Lourdes Faberes (“The Sandman,” “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre”), and Rekha Sharma (“Yellowjackets,” “Battlestar Galactica”).
Han will play Long Feng, who was the leader of Ba Sing Se secret police, the Dai Li, in the animated Nickelodeon series. Xuande will play Professor Zei, head of the anthropology department at Ba Sing Se University in the original series who was obsessed with finding Wan Shi Tong’s Library.
Chien will play King Kuei, ruler of the Earth Kingdom. Zhou will play Joo Dee, a public servant and guide for important visitors in Ba Sing Se. Yu will play Lady Beifong, Toph’s mother. Misipeka will play The Boulder, a professional earthbending wrestler. Faberes will play General Sung, a high-ranking Earth Army commander. Sharma will play a new character named Amita.
It should be noted that the live-action version has already made several changes to individual characters as well as storylines, so these versions of the characters mentioned above may not correspond exactly to their counterparts in the original show.
The new additions join returning cast members Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Elizabeth Yu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Daniel Dae Kim, Momona Tamada and Thalia Tran. It was previously announced that Miya Cech will be joining the series as Toph Beifong.
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is currently in production at Netflix in partnership with Nickelodeon. Netflix has already renewed the show through Season 3, concluding with the “Book of Fire” just like the animated version.
Jabbar Raisani and Christine Boylan are executive producers and showrunners on the series. Albert Kim, who developed the live-action version, also executive produces along with Dan Lin, Ryan Halprin, and Brendan Ferguson.
(Pictured, left to right: Amanda Zhou, Chin Han, Hoa Xuande, Kelemete Misipeka)
From Variety US