In development for over a decade, the story reveals made for Avatar: The Way of Water only heightened anticipation and created more reasons for its audiences to be excited about the film. Considered to be a hallmark of modern sci-fi, since 2009, Avatar has been a groundbreaking series built upon themes of environmentalism and humanity as seen through the eyes of two very different peoples. After the original film set a new precedent for 21st-century filmmaking, everything revealed about Avatar 2 seems to point to something bigger and more extravagant than anybody could’ve imagined.
Envisioned as far back as 2006, James Cameron said that if Avatar’s first film became successful, he’d begin work on the sequels. After Avatar broke box office records and far exceeded what many people considered successful, the work began on plotting out future follow-ups, which naturally started with James Cameron's Avatar 2. Slated for a 2014 and 2015 release, it wasn’t until 2022 that the first sequel’s trailer premiered. Entitled Avatar: The Way of Water, it received a new release date of December 2022 and promised to continue the story of the Na’vi after their previous conflict with the RDA.
With the previous film having featured an all-star cast, breathtaking visuals, and incredible technology to establish the alien world of Pandora, James Cameron would have to raise the bar and push the envelope to create a worthy sequel. Considered to be one of the great auteurs with films like Aliens, The Terminator, and Titanic, Avatar: The Way of Water comes with promises to be one of his most ambitious films yet. With modern filmmaking technology, an expanding cast of talented people, and grander stories to tell, there’s plenty to look forward to on audiences’ voyage to the world of Avatar 2’s Pandora.
Sigourney Weaver Is Playing Jake & Neytiri's Na'vi Child
Perhaps one of the most iconic leading women of sci-fi, it makes sense that Sigourney Weaver’s return would happen one way or another. Having helped to define James Cameron’s previous sci-fi films, whether her character was dead, alive, or somewhere in between through the planet of Pandora, many hoped that Weaver would return to once again play a role in Avatar 2. However, now cast as a new character, it only adds to the mystery and hype of what lies ahead in Avatar: The Way of Water.
In Avatar, Sigourney Weaver originally played Dr. Grace Augustine, a xenobiologist and one of the minds behind the Avatar Program. Having perished from fatal wounds and unable to return to her Avatar body via the Tree of Souls, her memories were still collected by Pandora’s interconnected ecosystem and later used to unite the planet against the RDA after revealing humanity’s impact on Earth. With involvement announced as early as 2011, many believed Sigourney Weaver would return in Avatar 2 as Dr. Augustine; however, it became revealed this time she would be playing a Na’vi named Kiri, the adopted daughter of protagonists Jake Sully and Neytiri. This is a curious choice of casting that audiences have naturally questioned, unsure what role Kiri will play and whether or not Dr. Augustine will still return in some form. Regardless, with a talented actress like Sigourney Weaver returning to sci-fi after her appearance in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, there’s a reason to be excited about the legacy she’ll continue to leave on Pandora’s mythology.
Stephen Lang's Quaritch Returns As A Na'vi: Confirmed
A movie is only good as its villain, and Stephen Lang became the man everybody loved to hate as Colonel Miles Quaritch. Unlike Sigourney Weaver, who will be returning in a new role, it’s been confirmed that Quaritch has unfinished business and a new way to continue his campaign on Pandora. While it’s probably not the strangest thing to happen in James Cameron’s movies, it still raises questions and how it’s all possible for a supposedly dead character to return.
Commander of RDA’s security on Pandora, Colonel Miles Quaritch, aggravated the RDA-Na'vi Conflict with an assault on the Omaticaya Clan. Attempting to sever the Na’vi from Pandora with an attack on the Tree of Souls and end the Pandoran War, Lang’s character met his end when being struck by arrows. However, thanks to the Avatar Program, Quaritch was resurrected as a Recombinant, an empty Avatar implanted with human memories. Now in a new body, Col. Quaritch and the RDA prepared for another Na’vi war on Pandora, with a new colony, a weapons facility, and the oceans at stake.
The RDA Returns With More Weapons & Soldier Avatars
Fantastic uses of technology have long been one of Avatar’s biggest highlights. Whether it’s the fantasy provided by the Avatar Program or the impressive prowess of the RDA’s weapons, the technology shown in the film has just as much personality and visual appeal as the alien world of Pandora. With the inhabitants of Pandora proving to be a lot more capable than the RDA gave them credit for, it’s as exciting as it is terrifying to imagine what lengths RDA will go to salvage their losses.
With unobtanium and the resources of Pandora as some of the most invaluable in the universe, the RDA risked countless lives and limbs to harvest it. In an interview with producer Jon Landau, he confirmed: “They are coming back with an armada to take back the prized possession that they lost.” Teasing a new colony known as Bridgehead and an ominous 3-D printing plant threatening the planet’s future, Avatar: The Way of Water hints at more battles ahead and more extravagant onscreen spectacle than the previous film.
Kate Winslet's Ronal Is An Action Hero
In Avatar 2, Kate Winslet reunites with Cameron after two decades. Known for her role as Rose in James Cameron’s Titanic, she’ll be making her debut on the planet of Pandora in a new role as one of the Na’vi. With an already all-star cast and a 13-year interlude, it shows Cameron hopes to make Avatar: The Way of Water an action-packed sequel worth the wait.
In Avatar: The Way of Water, Winslet plays Ronal, a “deeply loyal and a fearless leader” of a Na’vi tribe. Carrying an unborn baby and valuing family and home, she’s still willing to fight for the future of Pandora and the people of the Metkayina Clan. Described as an “action hero,” there’s potential that Avatar: The Way of Water will deliver another adrenaline-fuelled adventure. Additionally, with such an emotionally-driven character and Winslet’s performance as Rose immortalized in James Cameron’s Titanic, the role seems ideal to reunite the two for another Hollywood blockbuster.
Further Proof Of Avatar 2's Stunning Water CGI
Visually distinct and remarkably alien, Pandora stood out when the first Avatar film debuted in 2009. Brought to life with state-of-the-art CGI and in remarkable 3-D in select theaters, Avatar’s visuals became a reason for the film’s unbelievable success. Having already established a new standard with motion capture and the use of CGI, nobody thought James Cameron could outdo the work done on the original film; however, the trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water has disproven skeptics and in more ways than one.
Portrayed as a bioluminescent world as beautiful as it is dangerous, Pandora became as lively and seemingly real as any of the actors in the Avatar films. Hoping to best himself and bring to life the exotic waters of Pandora, James Cameron spent years trying to perfect the technology, even having sent his cameras into the Mariana Trench to capture raw underwater footage for his Avatar sequel movie. However, it seemed as if the time, ambition, and research proved successful as Avatar: The Way of Water’s first trailers gave audiences insight into the detailed and teeming oceans of Pandora. With VFX artists having to prove frame by frame that the oceans were animated, it seems that anything is possible in the world of the Na’vi. For those lost in Pandora’s glowing jungles, they’ll only have more breathtaking environments to explore once Avatar: The Way of Water plunges into theaters.
Avatar's Sequels Are Like Lord Of The Rings
One thing proved by Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is that J.R.R. Tolkien held to a high standard and one that most fear to invoke unless they can deliver something as timeless as his stories like Peter Jackson’s movies have in the past. The fact that James Cameron is comparing his sequels to the size and scale of The Lord of the Rings movies is ambitious and shows that he believes the upcoming sequels of Avatar’s story will blow everybody out of the water. It’s a bold claim and a high expectation, but it only shows James Cameron is giving it his all as a storyteller and has big ideas in mind.
Once considered unfilmable, Peter Jackson managed to subvert expectations by successfully adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series. Like Jackson, who filmed his sequels back to back with a story in mind, Cameron wished to accomplish something similar and just as ambitious with the challenge of having to create his mythos from scratch. “I don’t want to just do a movie and do a movie and do a movie. I want to tell a bigger story,” Cameron told the studio when planning his film and pitched the Avatar movie sequels as “Imagine a series of novels like The Lord Of The Rings existed, and we’re adapting them.” The fact that Avatar: The Way of Water is the next chapter of a bigger story and Cameron has faith he can match the accomplishments of one of the most successful adaptations in cinematic history is an exciting prospect that’ll hopefully live up to the director’s expectations.
Over a decade in the making, Avatar: The Way of Water could be well worth the wait. The world and mythology of Pandora are evolving in ways thought unimaginable as they're expanded. With only higher ambitions and new precedents in mind, perhaps not even Eywa knows how far James Cameron’s Avatar sequels could go from here.