The long-awaited Avatar 2 can set up a despicable Na'vi villain to wreak havoc over the rest of the series. Released in 2009, James Cameron's Avatar was a groundbreaking cinematic release. That first voyage to Pandora opened up a whole new world of 3-D filming technology, and regardless of other flaws the film might've suffered from, anyone would be hard-pressed to disparage Avatar's sublime visuals. Boosted by the inflated tickets for such an experience, Avatar strode towards box office success, smashing records at every turn and remaining undefeated champion of cinema until the Avengers assembled for a fourth time in Avengers: Endgame.
Sequel plans have been rattling around James Cameron's head since before Avatar even premiered but, echoing his journey on the first movie, the director has been forced to wait until technology caught up. This, combined with a leisurely approach to writing, means over a decade has passed without an Avatar sequel. Another reason for the delay is the ambitious plan to film and release a grand total of four Avatar sequels across the next decade. Beginning with Avatar 2 in 2022 (for now), there are plenty of stories to come after Jake Sully's official induction into the Na'vi tribe.
Plot details are predictably scarce, but Avatar's next villain is among the more intriguing topics of conversation. And while it's tempting to assume Jake will be fending off more pesky human invaders in Avatar 2 and beyond, the story's true threat could emanate from within the Na'vi.
Avatar 2 (& Sequels) Explore More Of Pandora & The Na'vi
Despite the closely guarded plot, it's common knowledge that Avatar 2 will expand greatly upon the original film's mythology, so expect plenty more of Pandora, and a deeper dive into Na'vi culture. James Cameron was famously meticulous in his creation of an alien world, and one can safely assume the director has spent 10 years busily crafting more tribes, locales and beasts to unleash in his Avatar sequels. The 2009 movie showed only the tip of that fictional iceberg, with Jake's story mostly contained within a single jungle. Pandora is but one moon of 14 orbiting the planet Polyphemus, and the gas giant itself one of numerous planets within the Alpha-Centuri star system.
It's also no secret that Avatar 2 will feature an abundance of underwater scenes, and Cliff Curtis is reportedly playing the leader of a new marine Na'vi clan known as the Metkayina. Since Na'vi clans generally don't associate with other tribes (as evidenced by Jake's miraculous third act unification in the first Avatar), this leaves plenty of room to introduce new cultures and beliefs on Pandora - not all of which are going to be friendly. Meanwhile, Earth's space travel capabilities offer the potential to escape Pandora and feature other moons that the Na'vi species call home. With such an expansive fictional universe, Avatar's new villains could emerge from anywhere, and just because the Na'vi talk to trees and love the environment, there could still be some blue wrong-uns out there ready to strike.
Avatar Sequels Need More Than A Human Threat
The obvious story for Avatar 2 is human invaders once again troubling the Na'vi for their rich plunder of resources. Indeed, Avatar producer Jon Landau has confirmed a human presence in the sequels, and Stephen Lang is reprising his role as the villainous Miles Quaritch. Since Lang's character doesn't seem the type to apologize, Quaritch could be seeking revenge in Avatar 2 and may once again assume main antagonist duties. With human marine biologist characters (confirmed by Cameron) and an ocean setting, Earthlings could certainly be up to their old tricks, leading to a second showdown between Avatar's aliens and greedy forces sent from Earth.
The Na'vi vs. human narrative would suffice for one sequel... but probably not four. There are only so many problems the people of Earth can cause on Pandora, and only so many times the Na'vi can repel them before the law of diminishing returns comes into effect. Relying exclusively on human villains also risks repeating the original Avatar movie's most famous mistake. Despite widespread praise at the time, opinion on Avatar has soured over the years, with particular criticism aimed at Cameron's story. Some found the environmental message too overt, and recycling the old rivalry between Na'vi and humans would almost certainly mean more of the same moral bluntness.
The solution on all counts is to bring a Na'vi villain into the story. The first Avatar might've included a sparse handful of antagonistic tribe members (that damned Tsu'tey), but none could be described as genuine baddies. As such, a properly rotten Na'vi evil-doer would provide a refreshing change of pace.
How Avatar 2 Can Set Up A Na'vi Villain
According to James Cameron himself, Avatar 2 will be a self-contained story that serves a larger arc stretching across the next four films. This overarching narrative likely involves a villain of some description, and with hours of material to fill, it makes sense to set that enemy up in film 2 ahead of a proper debut in Avatar 3. Excitingly, details for Avatar 2 offer some insight into how this villain could appear, and why they could hail from the Na'vi.
The biggest clue is Jake Sully and Neytiri's children, who will star in Avatar 2 and surely become vital cogs in the franchise's future. Jake is, of course, a human turned into a Na'vi via sacred ritual, and while Neytiri's Omaticaya clan accepted Sam Worthington's character as one of their own, those sentiments are unlikely to be shared universally. Avatar highlighted the Na'vi's strong sense of spiritualism and tradition. There was resistance to Jake's kind even being present on Pandora, and Avatar 3's villain could be the type who views breeding with a hybrid such as Jake tantamount to blasphemy against the ancestors. In the eyes of this evil pure-blood supporter, the Na'vi line has, quite literally, been Sully-ed.
Avatar 2 can set up this tyrannical Na'vi tribe leader by touching upon the discrimination Jake and Neytiri's family endure because of their heritage. As the first sequel pushes into new areas of Pandora, audiences will witness the reaction to Jake's species-swap from other tribes, and the potential resistance to a human component in the Na'vi's notoriously sacred gene pool.
The other setup to a Na'vi villain comes through Quaritch's return. While it's great to Stephen Lang reporting for duty once more as Avatar's answer to Major Chip Hazard, James Cameron knows better than to rinse-and-repeat the same villain time and time again. More likely, Quaritch will be revived on Pandora and align with the evil Na'vi - his thirst for revenge superseding his species loyalty. Quaritch could be resurrected as an advisor of sorts for the Na'vi enemies to gain an advantage over Jake and Neytiri's people.
David Thewlis Could Be Playing Avatar 3's Na'vi Villain
David Thewlis is no stranger to playing the bad guy. Despite being a benevolent teacher in Harry Potter, the actor has portrayed Ares in Wonder Woman, King Elnon in Dragonheart, Varga in Fargo, and various other ne'er-do-wells across TV and film. It's also known that Thewlis debuts in Avatar 3 and becomes a recurring character thereafter, which fits neatly with the idea of an overarching nemesis who reigns over the final three movies after being set up by the first sequel in 2022.
Since David Thewlis is obviously an actor of a certain vintage compared to Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, his character must surely exist already within Avatar's world, but then why wasn't he mentioned previously when Jake was unifying the Na'vi tribes against Quaritch's army? The answer could lie in Avatar's afterlife mythology and the predecessors of the Na'vi. The tribes of Pandora believe that dead ancestors reside within the natural flora and fauna of the moon. Furthermore, Sigourney Weaver's Grace will seemingly be revived in the Avatar sequels, joining the likes of Jake and Quaritch in defying death. With these two factors in play, David Thewlis' character could be an ancient Na'vi brought back to life by a band of zealots opposed to the union of Jake and Neytiri, whose influence and power sustains him as Avatar's big bad from film three onward.
