Meet Miyako’s Toph Beifong – Aang’s Earthbending Teacher In Season 2 Of Netflix’s Live-Action ‘Avatar

Aang (Gordon Cormier) and his friends better watch out, because Toph (Miyako) is about to rock their world in Season 2.

In a new behind-the-scenes featurette released by Netflix today, viewers can get a glimpse of the journey it took to create the live-action version of Toph Beifong, Aang’s crucial earth-bending teacher voiced by Michaela Jill Murphy.

Co-showrunner Jabbar Raisani described the casting process as “extensive” with the team looking at over 6000 submissions to narrow it down and do a chemistry read with Miyako Cech, also known as Miya. Aang’s search for Toph in the show similarly feels like looking for a needle in a haystack when he has the whole Earth Kingdom to scour.

“My friend Bumi said that my teacher would be a master of neutral jing,” Cormier’s Aang tells Toph when trying to persuade her to join his cause. Cormier likened Toph to a “really mean, older sister” to Aang but also described her as “younger and way stronger.” The Avatar is one hundred plus years old, after all.

Viewers get to hear Miyako call Aang by her signature nickname for him, “Twinkletoes,” in addition to “Bald Wonder.” The former comes from the fact that Toph can’t sense Aang as well when he hovers in the air.

“Miya got it, Miya embodied it, she was connected to the ground, to the earth,” co-showrunner Christine Boylan says in the featurette.

This is important because Toph is blind, but that in no way hampers her ability to earth bend. If anything, it enhances it in a way.

“It was amazing to watch Mia approached that role with such discipline and commitment,” executive producer Ryan Halprin said of the actress, who described her character as “blunt” and having “little to no filter.”

Learning to portray a “fully blind” character was one of Miya’s “biggest insecurities.” Enter blindness consultant Joe Strechay, who helped strategize with Miya about the detailed way she touches things and moves through the world. Earth bending is a different story for her, though as seen in the brief moments of what looks like echolocation Toph uses to locate objects and people in relation to her.

“When Toph is bending, it’s evident that she doesn’t have to look at what she’s doing,” Strechay said. “It’s kind of like playing basketball and doing a no-look pass.”

Miya was also given contacts that completely blocked her vision in addition to giving her eyes a look similar to that found in the animated series.

“Even with all the science fiction and super powers, we want children who are blind or low vision to watch this show and see themselves in the character,” Strechay added. “I think Mia really played a big role developing live action version of Toph.”

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