Stunning concept art for James Cameron’s Avatar 2 highlights how it can beat the first film’s expansive worldbuilding. The long-awaited sci-fi sequel is set for a December 2022 release, following the extremely successful original. Avatar set a high bar for large-scale alien environments, but looking at the culmination of recent concept art for Cameron’s follow-up, it’s easy to see the additional worldbuilding in Avatar 2 can overcome this hurdle and blow past expectations.
The first Avatar is, without a doubt, a visually stunning film. It’s hard not to look at the alien moon and its massive Hometrees with the same awe as protagonist Jake Sully, who explores Pandora through the local Na’vi. Jake and the Na’vi fight against the Resources Development Administration (RDA) to stop humans from mining all of Pandora’s resources and destroying its ecosystems, both of which are integral to the Na’vi way of life. Nature is a huge theme in the franchise and Avatar 2’s concept art teases there will be even more impressive scenes in Pandora's underwater environments.
Where other sci-fi film franchises like the Star Wars movies have taken to expanding their universes beyond any one planet, Avatar 2’s concept artwork keeps its focus entirely on Pandora itself, creating a richer, more fleshed-out environment than the original had time to explore. A major part of Avatar’s appeal was its dream-like sense of place, and the second film appears to be building upon that to create a stronger sense of awe with its more expansive waterscapes. More detail about the surrounding Na’vi world and its ecosystems strengthens the worldbuilding of the franchise, which is going to be key to Avatar 2’s potential success. With over 13 years passing since the first film, Avatar 2 has to rely on its worldbuilding to bring back viewers and it is well-placed to go beyond and make Pandora a more developed world.
The additional Na’vi clans on new water-based locations hint at a global community, which creates a larger sense of scale than the original film. Where Avatar was focused on a singular clan, Avatar 2 seems more focused on tying together Na’vi clans from different environments to paint a more holistic view of Pandora. With an even greater sense of scale populated with smaller details surrounding the Na’vi way of life, viewers can gain a clearer picture of the alien moon and its people, going beyond the single Omaticaya Na’vi clan Jake and the RDA encountered. This more detailed perspective of Na’vi culture and homes will potentially allow viewers to connect to the sequel’s characters more deeply.
The glimpse of this global worldbuilding also possibly hints towards a conflict that seriously affects the Na’vi as a whole. Where Avatar centered on preserving the Omaticaya Hometree ecosystem and its surrounding resources, Avatar 2 seems like it could center on preserving the entire planet’s ecosystem. It raises the stakes from the struggles of a single village to the struggles of an entire planet, adding a new level of intensity. However far Cameron decides to take this is yet to be seen, but Avatar 2’s concept art already displays a visually rich world that will eclipse the first film in scope. The sequel is sure to deliver another epic story and at the very least, James Cameron is ready to exhibit visuals that push the bounds of film-making.
