MY CABBAGES! That is a sound that any Avatar: The Last Airbender can hear perfectly in their head and those fans will get a chance to hear it all again soon. In a post from Avatar News, it has been revealed that voice actor James Sie will be reprising his role as the fan-favorite character, Cabbage Merchant, in Netflix’s live-action reimagining of the animated series!
In the original animated series, the Cabbage Merchant was a running gag that appeared several times across the first two seasons. The Cabbage Merchant was a poor and misfortuned vendor who would often find himself, and his cabbages, in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the gag, the main characters would frequently accidentally destroy his cart full of cabbages while fighting bad guys. This would often provoke what became the character’s iconic catchphrase “my cabbages!” Since the series aired, the character has become a favorite part of the show’s extensive list of recurring characters. The character is also referenced again in the sequel series Legend of Korra where his son appears, also voiced by Sie.
Sie is an actor who has had an extensive career as a voice actor. Outside the Avatar franchise, audiences likely know his voice. He voiced the title character in the cartoon Jackie Chan Adventures, Kwan in Danny Phantom, and voiced multiple characters in shows like King of the Hill and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. Sie has also appeared in movies like How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and Ice Age: The Meltdown.
It is currently unknown how many episodes Sie is set to appear in, although if the animated series is anything to go by, there will be a lot of opportunities to destroy his cabbages in the quest to save the world. Sie is joining the already announced cast of Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio Tarbell, Ian Ousley, Daniel Dae Kim, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Lim Kay Siu, and Ken Leung.
Fans of the original animated series are, understandably, worried about a live-action adaptation of the beloved show. Famously, there was a 2010 attempt to adapt it into a film that was poorly received. However, Sie’s involvement in this new adaptation could be a good sign. One of the biggest problems that fans had with the film if that it didn’t have a lot of respect for the series and wasn’t very accurate to what made the series so beloved in the first place. So, this new Netflix series not only including the Cabbage Merchant, a fan favorite character with an adored gag, but bringing back the original voice actor, could be a sign of good things to come.
Check out the announcement tweet from Avatar News below: