Google Cast Reciever for Android mini controller with 3 buttons and the image at the same time

CustomMiniControllerFragment.java

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;

import androidx.annotation.NonNull;
import androidx.annotation.Nullable;

import com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.media.ImageHints;
import com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.media.uicontroller.UIMediaController;
import com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.media.widget.MiniControllerFragment;

public class CustomMiniControllerFragment extends MiniControllerFragment {
    @NonNull
    @Override
    public View onCreateView(@NonNull LayoutInflater inflater, @Nullable ViewGroup container, @Nullable Bundle bundle) {
        View view = super.onCreateView(inflater, container, bundle);

        UIMediaController controller = getUIMediaController();

        if (controller == null) {
            return view;
        }
      
        ImageView imageView = view.findViewById(com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.R.id.icon_view);

        controller.bindImageViewToImageOfCurrentItem(imageView, new ImageHints(2, getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.R.dimen.cast_mini_controller_icon_width), getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.R.dimen.cast_mini_controller_icon_height)), com.google.android.gms.cast.framework.R.drawable.cast_album_art_placeholder);
        imageView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

        return view;
    }
}

your_layout.xml

...
    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/castMiniController"
        class="com.your.package.CustomMiniControllerFragment"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:visibility="gone"
        app:castControlButtons="@array/cast_mini_controller_control_buttons" <!-- your 3 buttons defined in arrays.xml -->
        app:castShowImageThumbnail="false" <!-- make sure to set this to false! The image is going to me manually set to visible inside the class -->
        tools:ignore="FragmentTagUsage" />
...

I found a hacky way to do what the library should have allowed in the first place.. Nowadays phone screens are big enough for both an image and 3 buttons.
Hope someone out there finds this useful.