James Cameron's Avatar 2 will take audiences back to Pandora, and it seems the planet's Na'vi people will have some new biological features for the movie's story. 2009's Avatar was a true cultural phenomenon, becoming the highest grossing movie ever made and revolutionizing CGI and 3D in never-before-seen ways. Cameron's been working on the Avatar sequels ever since, but as with the original, the vast scope of the films has made the wait a long one.
Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 finally got underway in late 2017, with the two back-to-back movies being, like their predecessor, extremely ambitious undertakings. As Cameron had revealed after the release of the original film, Avatar 2 will show the undersea side of the Na'vi's home world of Pandora. While that's been known for over a decade, there's also some hints to how the Na'vi themselves might be portrayed differently.
Some new concept art (seen below) for Avatar 2 shows a glimpse at the high seas of Pandora, with the Na'vi now having a few added details. These include fins on the arms of the Na'vi woman seen in the photo, along with thicker tails on several of the Na'vi seen in the image. With Avatar 2 going underwater, it seems likely that these are intended for the Na'vi to swim with.
The design of the Na'vi was one of the stand out visual elements of Avatar, with the natives of Pandora standing much taller than humans. The Na'vi's ponytails were also one of their key features, with the Na'vi plugging them directly into other creatures of Pandora to form a telepathic link with them. With Avatar 2 showing the undersea world of Pandora, it makes sense that more aspects of the Na'vi's physiology would be presented in the sequel.
It's also possible that, while Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are returning as Jake and Neytiri, the Na'vi shown in the concept art aren't the same as the ones seen in the first Avatar. The Na'vi were originally shown as inhabiting the planet's vast forests and having a spiritual connection to them. This could hint to Avatar 2 showing another tribe of Na'vi who live near the seas of Pandora, with their wider tails and fins differentiating them as related, but distinct inhabitants of the planet from those in the first Avatar.
While it might seem like it's been a surprisingly long road for Avatar 2 after the original became the biggest movie ever made, James Cameron is well-known for taking his time. Avatar itself was in-development for years after Titanic, while Cameron co-wrote and produced Alita: Battle Angel as the Avatar sequels finally got rolling. With the long wait for Avatar 2 now nearing an end, Cameron's plan to show another side of Pandora seems it will also show more to the Na'vi themselves with some new, aquatic elements for their bodies.
