How Avatar: The Last Airbender brought back the OG Cabbage Merchant: 'The biggest celebrity we had on set'

Albert Kim, the showrunner behind Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, acknowledges that there were some pretty heavy-hitter actors on set, from Daniel Dae Kim playing Fire Lord Ozai to George Takei playing the spirit Koh to veteran character actor Tamlyn Tomita playing Suki's mother Yukari.

None, however, were a bigger hit than James Sie.

"I've got to say, we had a lot of big names. He was probably the biggest celebrity we had on set," Kim tells EW. "Everyone wanted to take a selfie with James, especially when he got into his costume, myself included."

Avatar fans know Sie well. He voiced the Cabbage Merchant, a bit character from Nickelodeon's animated Avatar: The Last Airbender who blew up into a fan favorite, thanks to a signature catchphrase: "My cabbages!" Though devoid of any notable backstory, or even a name, his popularity gave way to his own Funko Pop, memes, cosplayers, and more. Now Sie is reprising the character in live-action form for Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Kim explains how it all came together. "We were committed to making sure our casting was culturally, ethnically appropriate," he says. "So we [had an] all Asian or Indigenous cast in our show. Back in the original, a lot of those roles were voiced by white actors, and they were great and it was appropriate at the time. It's not something that we wanted to do. So that actually precluded us from going to a lot of the actors from the original show."

However, Sie, who notably voiced Jackie Chan in Jackie Chan Adventures and Master Monkey in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, is of Asian descent. "When we were talking about that role, and we knew we were going to do that role, we were tossing out some names," Kim continues. "One of the things I said was, 'Why not go back to the original? Why not get James involved?' So I reached out to him, and he was absolutely thrilled with the idea that he couldn't wait to do it."

At first, Kim says his colleagues in the writers' room urged him to play the Cabbage Merchant himself. "I'm like, 'No, no, no, no. That's not going to happen,'" he recalls. "Once I told them we were going [with] James, they all said, 'Of course! Yes, that's a much better idea.'"

For those who aren't familiar with the world of Avatar, Sie's appearance may seem like nothing. For fans, it'll be a satisfying Easter egg. The reaction of the crew to his arrival on set speaks to just how popular this guy is amongst the fandom. "Some people wore Cabbage Man shirts," Kim remembers of that filming day.

While the details of the cameo are being kept secret as a surprise for viewers, we can confirm that, yes, he delivers that familiar catchphrase. "Of course we had him do his iconic 'My cabbages' line several times in several different ways," Kim says, adding how executive producer, visual effects supervisor, and director Jabbar Raisani shot the moment from several different angles. "We did sweeping, dramatic shots from overhead and close-ups, and we covered his line as much as anyone's. So that was a fun day."

Avatar: The Last Airbender premieres Thursday, Feb. 22. on Netflix.

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