James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water arrives in theaters this holiday season, and the new trailer for the movie might reveal the role of Kat Winslet. The long-awaited sequel to 2009's Avatar, which stands as the all-time box office champ, is set to debut on December 16 as the first of four planned sequels. While the trailer for The Way of Water hasn’t been released online yet, it can currently be seen in theaters ahead of showings of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The trailer is relatively brief and doesn’t have much dialogue, but lavishly showcases Cameron’s much-hyped seafaring adventure setting for the story. A good portion of the footage is also situated underwater, with one Na’vi in particular seen swimming among corals and other aquatic life. While unidentified, this Na’vi could very well be Kate Winslet’s character in the movie.
Winslet will reportedly portray a character named Ronal, with the actress using motion-capture technology for the role as part of The Way of Water's aquatic scenes. Ronal is also said to be part of another tribe of Pandora’s population known as the Metkayina. The Na’vi seen in the trailer certainly fits the description of Winslet’s character, and the female Na’vi’s face resembles Winslet enough to suggest that she is indeed Ronal. In late October 2020, a first look image of the shoot was revealed, showing Winslet shooting a scene underwater in a giant tank. At the time, she also revealed that she learned to hold her breath for a record-breaking seven minutes in order to film the underwater Avatar 2 scenes.
For The Way of the Water, the story is said to focus on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), now a chief of the Omaticaya Na’vi tribe, raising his family with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) as a new threat arrives on Pandora. Where Ronal fits into that still remains unknown. However, the Metkayina tribe will factor heavily into the movie, and with Winslet's appearance in the movie, Ronal is likely to be one of the most prominent members of the Metkayina in the film.
The Way of Water marks Winslet’s second collaboration with James Cameron after Titanic. As can often be expected from a James Cameron film, the director’s ambition for the movie is immense. Cameron has played up the underwater filming techniques and new, spellbinding environment of the movie as far back as in the wake of the original Avatar. Cameron, well-known for devoting years to refining and shaping projects before they even reach principal photography, is most certainly determined to outdo the visual splendor of the first Avatar.
With the trailer only presently viewable in theaters, The Way of Water’s marketing is only just beginning to roll out gradually and unveil details like Jake and Neytiri's human son. That’ll surely change over the course of the summer and as the film’s holiday season release nears. Until then, while no official image of Winslet as Ronal has been released, the underwater shots of a female Na’vi that bears a surprisingly close resemblance to her could be the first look at Ronal in Avatar: The Way of Water.
