The trailer for the long-awaited sequel of James Cameron’s cinematic masterpiece “Avatar” was released Wednesday morning, giving audiences a taste of what’s to come in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” After 13 years of waiting, audiences will plunge into the oceans of Pandora, inspired by a part of the world very few have ever seen.
The original “Avatar” was released in 2009, earning nearly $3 billion at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. That success has allowed Cameron to explore other interests — interests that would inspire the setting of the sequel.
Cameron said in an interview with the “Avatar” cast and The New York Times that he had postponed the start of production on the film’s sequel to instead focus on his love of deep-sea exploration and construct a craft to reach the deepest point in the ocean, the Marianas Trench.
“We kept thinking, ‘I hope he survives to make a new movie,’” Sigourney Weaver told The New York Times, reflecting on Cameron’s undersea voyage in March 2012.
Cameron returned and began the writing process for what he had thought would be a trilogy, only to find that he “wound up with more story than (he) bargained for.” Production for “The Way of Water” began in 2017, with the film’s subsequent sequels being filmed alongside the second “Avatar” movie.
“If we make some money with (Avatar) two and three,” Cameron said, per the Times, “it’s all mapped out. Scripts are already written, everything’s designed. So just add water.”
“The Way of Water” makes its debut 13 years after the original was released, canonically taking place over a decade after the events of the first film, according to Variety. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña reprise their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri, with Stephen Lang returning as the villain of the film, Colonel Quaritch.
Jake and Neytiri’s family has expanded since the first film, with Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton and Trinity Bliss playing the leads’ three Na’vi children, Neteyam, Lo’ak and Tuktirey. In a bold casting choice, Sigourney Weaver also returns to the franchise in the role of Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter, Kiri, through the magic of CGI.
“The story is about family, about our families trying to stay together (and) the lengths to which we all go to protect each other and protect the place where we live,” Weaver told Variety.
The resilience of the family unit isn’t the only message in “Avatar: The Way of Water.” In line with themes from the original film, “The Way of Water” speaks to the environmental crises that are occurring on our planet, Cameron said.
“We’re losing the whales, we’re losing the dolphins, we’re losing the sharks. We’re losing the coral reefs due to atmospheric (carbon dioxide) dissolving in the ocean. People will look back a hundred years from now and say, ‘We had all those things, and we squandered them,’” Cameron told The New York Times. “That’s in (the movie), but in a very organic way as part of the storytelling. The warning is between the lines.”
“Avatar: The Way of Water” will premiere in theaters Dec. 16, according to the movie’s official trailer.