Avatar: The Last Airbender has a slew of characters that are very well-loved by the fan base. The show also boasts a robust and dynamic supporting cast of characters, each of which fans can relate to and be excited about. One such character was The Boulder, one of the fighters in the underground bending ring of the Earth Kingdom.
Coded around Hollywood and WWE legend Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the creators actually wanted the character to be played by the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle alum. It almost happened, until the the now-actor’s agents informed the creators that Johnson was not interested in television at that point.
The Creators revealed it all on Avatar: Braving the Elements
Avatar: Braving the Elements is a podcast hosted by two alums from the franchise, Janet Varney, the voice of Korra, and Dante Basco, the voice of Prince Zuko. Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko appeared on the podcast, to talk about all the fun stuff that they did on the show, and they also revealed how Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was on their radar for the role of The Boulder. DiMartino said:
“This was before he was like the Rock as we know him now, but he was definitely on that trajectory, and since [the Boulder] was modelled after him, we tried to get him to be the voice, but he was not doing television at the time.”
After this, Konietzko chimed in with “That’s what his agents told us.”
Dwayne Johnson was not in the running to play the character anymore, but the role finally went to Mick Foley, who was a good friend of The Rock. The actor went on to voice The Boulder to perfection, throughout the show.
The Rock could play The Boulder in the Live-Action Netflix series
The Netflix live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender started out with mixed reviews, with a lot of fans being turned off by the show because of all the changes that it made to the source material. While there are aspects of the show that fans are very happy with, like how some of the bending looks in the show, perhaps the show could renew interest by casting The Rock in the role of The Boulder, which as a brief cameo could really ignite fan expectations for Book 2.
Netflix has renewed Avatar for two more seasons, which means we will be getting the entire show translated into live-action. However, this does not mean that the show is good to go till the very end, as Netflix is notorious for canceling shows when they get good. Perhaps, this time around, things will be different.
