Avatar: The Last Airbender's live action Netflix series has wrapped filming on its first season, all while quietly adding more and more members to the cast of the much anticipated (or much maligned, depending on your veiw point) series.
It was announced on Instagram via Aang actor Gordon Cormier that filming had reached its end. He made the announcement along with a lighthearted photo of him with costars Dallas Lie (Zuko), Ian Ousley (Sokka), and Kia wentiio (Katara)
While the core group of characters including Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, and more being announced all the way back in April, that left many beloved minor characters still in the air regarding who would play the part, of if they would even appear at all.
It was recently reported over on Comicbook.com in a series of articles that several new names have joined the series as fan favorite secondary characters King Bumi, bounty hunter June, and the infamous and oft quotes Cabbage man.
Avatar News and Knight Edge first broke the news on July 27th that Aang's former friend and self proclaimed king of Omashu, Bumi, would be played by funny man Utkarsh Ambudkar (Free Guy, Pitch Perfect). Rumors suggest that he has already reported to set and filmed some scenes as the senile old monarch.
Furthermore, it's been reported that Danny Pudi (Community, Ducktales) will be taking on the role of The Mechanist. In the original series, The Mechanist was a down on his luck inventor who was mourning the loss of his wife but was eventually inspired by The Avatar to join in the efforts against the fire nation. There's been no confirmation at this time if the series will feature the characters son, Teo, who was paralyzed from the waist down in the same disaster that took the life of his mother. Despite no announcement yet regarding the character, we have to imagine that Netflix would not be so foolish as to omit such a strong piece of representation to the disabled community.
Further rouding out the cast is Teen Wolf alumni Arden Cho (Chicago Med) as the bounty hunter June. June was an Earth Kingdom citizen who grew up traveling with her father (also a bounty hunter) and was contracted by Zuko to track and capture the Avatar and his team. While she is a non-bender, she is still a formidable fighter.
Lastly, fans will rejoice that the infamous and oft quotes Cabbage Merchant will be coming to the series and will be played by none other than James Sie! Fans of the original series will surely be glad of this news as Sie was the original voice of the character and even went on to voice the Cabbage Merchant's descendant in The Legend of Korra.
There has not yet been a release date announced for the series, nor a trailer or even any official stills of the cast as their respective characters. Fingers crossed we will start to see some official released soon and that the series can hopefully live up to the legacy of what's come before. It certainly has some big shoes to fill, and the original creators removing themselves from the project early on in the process certainly did not lend the series any good will out of the gate.