In the months leading up to the highly anticipated release of Avatar: The Way of Water, the snarky late-night hosts were joking that audiences couldn’t even remember the names of the characters from the first Avatar movie. But James Cameron is banking on viewers’ familiarity with the ensemble of his ambitious sci-fi epic to launch a franchise.
From everyman Jake Sully to the Na’vi’s audience surrogate Neytiri to the villainous Colonel Miles Quaritch, there are some fascinating characters populating the dazzling world of Cameron’s Avatar franchise.
10 Jake Sully
Sam Worthington brought his everyman charms to the role of Avatar’s main protagonist, Jake Sully, a Marine who goes to space to finish what his brother started. As the John Smith figure of the story, Jake bridges the gap between the colonizing humans and the local alien population.
In many ways, Jake is this franchise’s fish-out-of-water audience surrogate. The viewer learns about the Avatar Program, the world of Pandora, and the culture of the Na’vi all through Jake’s eyes.
9 Mo’at
CCH Pounder gave one of the best motion-capture performances in Avatar with her turn as Mo’at. When Neytiri brings home a human in a Na’vi body, Mo’at is naturally skeptical of the colonizer who wants to join the clan.
As the mother who wants to protect Neytiri and the spiritual leader who keeps the whole Omaticaya clan together, Mo’at is one of Avatar’s bravest characters.
8 Dr. Norm Spellman
Joel David Moore stars opposite Worthington as Jake’s geeky sidekick, Dr. Norm Spellman. Spellman is a xenoanthropologist who’s more interested in studying the plant and animal life on the surface of Pandora than tearing it all down to mine the moon’s unobtanium like his corporate overlords.
Along with Jake, Spellman turns on the humans and sides with the Na’vi. He’s not as useful as Jake in the final battle – after all, he’s a scientist, not a fighter – but he is on the right side of the conflict.
7 Eytukan
Another one of the Na’vi characters brought to life by Avatar’s groundbreaking visual effects, Eytukan, is one of the oldest and wisest members of the Omaticaya’s clan. Not only is he the leader of the clan; he’s also Mo’at’s lover and Neytiri’s father.
No one is more skeptical of allowing Jake and the other sympathetic humans onto the Na’vi’s side than Eytukan, but Jake eventually wins him over with his compassion and nobility.
6 Trudy Chacón
Trudy Chacón is a helicopter pilot who sympathizes with the Na’vi and joins their fight against her own commanding officers. For this badass action hero, Cameron found the perfect actor in Michelle Rodriguez, who plays the part with authentic grit and inspiring sincerity. Avatar is ranked as one of Rodriguez’s best movies on IMDb.
Trudy’s post-defection callsign, “Rogue One,” predated the Star Wars spin-off of the same name by seven years. In both cases, the callsign refers to the roguish, rebellious nature of the characters in question.
5 Parker Selfridge
Sitcom staple Giovanni Ribisi gave a scene-stealing supporting turn in Avatar as Parker Selfridge, the corporate administrator for the RDA mining operation. Ribisi is hilariously deadpan in his portrayal of Selfridge’s shameless corporate greed.
In terms of Cameron’s familiar stock characters, Selfridge is the Carter Burke of Avatar: a smarmy corporate suit who’s more interested in preserving the company’s bottom line than he is in doing the right thing and preserving people’s lives.
4 Tsu’tey
Most of the Na’vi are on the same page when it comes to teaming up with Jake Sully to take down the imperialist humans invading Pandora. But there’s an extra layer of conflict with Tsu’tey’s role in the story. He’s earned a reputation as the most powerful warrior in the whole clan and he’s betrothed to Neytiri before Jake swoops in and wins her heart.
The story conflict presented by this character is similar to Caledon Hockley, the Billy Zane character from Titanic, who desperately wanted to stop his fiancée Rose from running into the arms of her new lover, Jack.
3 Dr. Grace Augustine
Sigourney Weaver returns in The Way of Water, playing the teenage daughter of Jake and Neytiri through the magic of motion-capture. The sci-fi icon played a different part in the first movie: Dr. Grace Augustine, the head of the Avatar Program and Jake’s reluctant mentor.
While the movie paints most of its human characters as colonizing villains, Dr. Augustine is one of the few humans to turn on the human race and join the Na’vi’s side. She even gives her life for their cause in the final battle.
2 Neytiri
When it comes to creating a new icon of the science fiction genre, casting Zoe Saldaña – the actor behind Uhura and Gamora – is always a safe bet. Saldaña brought real humanity to the alien role of Neytiri.
Jake is set up as the hero of the story, but Neytiri is the one who ultimately saves the day. She defeats Quaritch, rescues Jake’s human body, and ensures Pandora’s future.
1 Colonel Miles Quaritch
Arguably the most memorable and well-rounded character in Avatar is the villain, Colonel Miles Quaritch. The great Stephen Lang was perfectly cast for the gruff R. Lee Ermey-like drill sergeant archetype. Quaritch is a militaristic warmonger who wholeheartedly believes in the use of firepower over reason as a means of resolving conflicts.
Although he seemingly died in the first movie, Quaritch is back in the sequel (thanks to the magic of science fiction) and his arc is just getting started.