Four brand new images have arrived from James Cameron’s upcoming sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. The Avatar franchise has been slow to grow, despite beginning with one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The original Avatar came to theaters in 2009 and landed at #1 on the all-time box office chart off the back of its groundbreaking visual effects, which brought to life the world of Pandora, the vibrant science-fiction world inhabited by a blue alien race known as the Navi and whose habitat was threatened by the mining operations of Earthlings. Despite its massive success, it took 13 years for Cameron to complete his promised follow-up Avatar 2, which is officially coming to theaters on December 16, 2022.
The film will feature the return of many original Avatar performers reprising their roles, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald, with Sigourney Weaver coming back in a brand new role. The cast has also added a heaping helping of new stars like Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones. The film will pick up more or less in real-time, over a decade after the events of the original film, and follow the family that Jake Sully (in his Na’vi form) has built with his Na’vi life partner Neytiri.
Now that Cameron has introduced audiences to Pandora and its inhabitants, it seems his instinct is to allow the characters to explore more and more remote parts of the planet that even they haven’t been before. If the promised follow-ups to Avatar: The Way of Water can keep pushing further into scenic sci-fi vistas and wondrous creatures, Avatar 5 might just be one of the most mind-blowing experiences ever released to theaters. For now, though, Avatar fans are sure to be content with this oceanside adventure.
