Avatar: The Way of Waterreturns audiences to Pandora more than a decade after the events of the first film. According to Zoe Saldaña, however, the events in that movie are still very present in the minds of the characters, particularly in Neytiri.
Avatar: The Way of Waterfeatures many of the same themes as the first film. The firstAvatartackled imperialism and colonization, which heavily impacted Neytiri. Atthe end of the firstAvatarmovie, she and Jake Sully went on to have a romance, but Jake had adapted to the Na’vi way of life. Throughout the film, Neytiri displays a lot of skepticism and hostility toward humans, and there’s not any indication that she feels any different by the end. In fact, she actually has more reason to feel justified in her beliefs.
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In an interview withDeadline, Saldaña spoke about Neytiri’s arc inAvatar: The Way of Water.“She’s not done with her issues with sky people," Saldaña said. “You know, yeah, she married one, and she has babies with him, and she’s still struggling. I feel like that really gives way for Neytiri to have a full-fledged journey. From, you know, just all the feelings that she’s having since they’ve invaded her planet.”
With thereturn of characters such as Stephen Lang’s Colonel Quaritch, Neytiri faced off against humans once more inAvatar: The Way of Water.However,Neytiri’s journey is not complete by the end of the second film. Landau intimated that the fifthAvatarfilm will take place on Earth, where Neytiri will have to grapple with her feelings towards humans when she realizes not all of them are oppressive and powerful.
Cameron has previouslyjustifiedAvatar: The Way of Water’s long runtimeby pointing out that the sequel spends far more time on emotional beats and character development than the first film did. This included plenty of time focusing on Neytiri’s character arc.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris now playing in theaters.
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