Jamie Flatters shares how losing their home and becoming refugees impacts his character Neteyam and the other Sully children in Avatar: The Way of Water. Flatters plays Neteyam, the eldest son of Neytiri and Jake Sully. He wants to follow in his parents' footsteps, longing to step into the shoes of a warrior. Avatar: The Way of Water features the return of humans many years after the events of Avatar. As this threat returns more dangerous than ever, the Sullys are forced to find a new home, hopefully out of the clutches of the RDA.
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Flatters explains how Neteyam and his siblings are impacted by becoming refugees. He discusses how this displacement can cause inner turmoil and raise questions about one's identity. He also hints at how they can achieve acceptance within this new Na'vi clan.
Jamie Flatters: When you're displaced from your home, when everything is left up to a question, it's extreme. Especially for an adolescent, it gives you a massive amount of turmoil, and you don't know how to identify. Because I feel like for a lot of people growing up, trying to formulate their ideas in the world, a lot of their grounding identity is within a community. And only if Neteyam and the younger guys achieve being with the Metkayina will they ever feel at home. I think that's a very interesting message that film exposed.
Avatar: The Way Of Water's Message Hits Closer To Home Than Many Realize
Avatar: The Way of Water introduces Neytiri and Jake Sully's children: Neteyam (Flatters) their oldest son, Kiri, their adopted teenage daughter, with intriguing ties to both Dr. Grace Augustine and Eywa; Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), their second-born son; and their youngest, Tuktirey "Tuk" (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss). The Sully children have grown up in the Omaticaya clan, which their parents lead, but when the RDA returns and targets Jake and Neytiri, their entire world is turned upside down. When they are forced to seek refuge with another Na'vi clan, Metkayina, they must adjust from a world in which they are the chief's children to one in which they are outsiders, refugees.
Identity is another core idea of the film with the Sully children struggling to find their place in the new clan, Neytiri contending with the loss of her heritage and home, and the Na'vi Avatar Recombinants furthering the story of humans embodying Na'vi. The question of identity when one loses their home, their heritage, and their culture is tragically a much too common story. Avatar: The Way of Water has the chance to dive into how this impacts each of the Sullys with some potentially losing who they were while others could thrive in a new environment.
Many people have needed to flee their homes for their own safety, often because of war, which brings an element of authentic and relatable storytelling to the very alien world of Pandora. Neytiri and Jake were at the center of Avatar as they fell in love, but now Neytiri and Jake Sully's story focuses on the difficulties of being parents especially when their children are put in danger. The Sully narrative about the challenges of being refugees is an intriguing and moving setup, especially with the ongoing war against RDA on the horizon in Avatar: The Way of Water.
