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James Cameron blew away audiences back in 2009 with Avatar, a story that’s as visually stunning as it is ecologically aware. Avatar takes us to the somewhat distant future on a planet named Pandora, where humans of Earth have set up a mining operation and disrupted the lives of the Na’vi, the humanoid natives of Pandora. In an effort to interact with the Na’vi, humans have created an “Avatar,” which is the body of a Na’vi operated by the technologically-inserted consciousness of a human.
Cameron worked with linguists to create an entirely functioning Na’vi language, invented his own specialized camera for capturing actors’ facial expressions, and paved the way for future use of motion-capture animation in filmmaking. The effects of Avatar were absolutely groundbreaking for their time, and the film broke all kinds of box-office records. After the wildly successful first movie, Cameron then signed on to create four more Avatar films. Below, we’ve put together everything we know so far about the next installment of the franchise: Avatar: The Way of Water.
Editor's Note: This piece was last updated on December 9 to add the latest trailer.
Watch the Avatar: The Way of Water Trailer
The first official trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water first debuted exclusively in theaters in front of showings of Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness starting on May 5, 2022. The following Monday, May 9, the official Avatar YouTube channel debuted the trailer online. The trailer broke records for Disney, raking in 148.6 million views in its first day, surpassing all of the trailers for the new Star Wars films. So it'd be ludicrous to think that nobody cares about Avatar anymore. The trailer proves that James Cameron hasn't lost a beat in the 13 years since the first film, showcasing some stunning visual effects work exploring the aquatic scenery on the planet of Pandora as well as Jake Sully and Neytiri with their family.The official full trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water debuted on November 2, 2022. The two-and-a-half-minute preview gives us a better look at the family dynamic between Jake, Neytiri, and their children, as well as giving fans glimpses at some of the film's new characters, including the ones played by Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet. We also, of course, get plenty of peeks at the film's stunning visual effects and CGI. A new trailer for the movie was released recently, followed by a TV spot showcasing an epic battle. We've also seen two featurettes, one that goes into the cast's thoughts about the movie and one titled "Return to Pandora". Another trailer was released recently which showcases new music from The Weeknd and the latest one was released on December 7, which you can see below:
When Is the Avatar: The Way of Water Release Date?
It’s been a long time coming, and the second installment to the Avatar franchise will hit theaters on December 16, 2022. The first two sequels were announced way back in 2010, with hopes for a 2014 release. The demands of the film saw a total of eight theatrical delays over many years, with the last delay announced in June of 2020, bringing us to the current 2022 release date. The third installment is planned for release in December of 2024, the fourth coming out in December of 2026, and the final film released in December of 2028. The second movie will reportedly have a run time of about 3 hours and 10 minutes, so it really is shaping up to be quite the experience. Avatar: The Way of Water will also be releasing in China, one of the few Hollywood movies to do so since the pandemic. Tickets for the film are now on sale so be sure to get yours. Ahead of the release, 18 minutes of new footage was screened at Brazil's Comic-Con Experience (CCXP) 2022.
Who's In the Avatar: The Way of Water Cast?
Avatar: The Way of Water features many actors returning from the first film, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Matt Gerald, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Dileep Rao, and Giovanni Ribisi. Avatar: The Way of Water will also see the return of Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang somehow… (Spoiler alert: they, uhhh, died in Avatar?). It has been revealed that Weaver will actually be playing a new character, Jake and Neytiri's adopted daughter Kiri. Exciting new additions to the cast include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, and Vin Diesel.
Who Are the New Characters in Avatar: The Way of Water?
With much of Avatar: The Way of Water taking place among the underwater reefs of Pandora, we’re introduced to a new tribe of people on the planet, the reef-dwellers of the Metkayina.
Kate Winslet is Rona, a free-diver and part of the Metkayina tribe, and Cliff Curtis portrays Tonowari, leader of the Metkayina.
The human side of the new character group includes Edie Falco as General Ardmore, the woman in charge of protecting the mining interests, Jemaine Clement as marine biologist Dr. Ian Garvin, Michelle Yeoh as Dr. Karina Mogue, and Oona Chaplin as a character named Varang.
Unfortunately, we don’t know yet what sort of role Vin Diesel is playing in Avatar: The Way of Water, but we’re dying to find out.
When and Where Was Avatar: The Way of Water Filmed?
After James Cameron announced in February 2017 that the writing for the sequels was complete, preliminary shooting for Avatar: The Way of Water began in California on August 15, 2017, with digital effect work beginning that summer as well. In September of 2017, principal photography for both Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar 3 began, with much of the underwater motion-capture filming taking place between November 2017 and May of 2018. By June of 2018, Zoe Saldana had finished shooting her portions for both Avatar: The Way of Water and its sequel, and filming then moved to New Zealand for the next six months. Motion-capture filming was finally wrapped up in November of 2018, with the live-action filming to follow. Live-action filming in New Zealand then began February of 2019, lasting until November of that year and breaking for the holidays, resuming in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic halted the production of Avatar: The Way of Water on March 17, 2020, forcing production to remain in Los Angeles indefinitely. Filming in New Zealand finally resumed in June 2020, with James Cameron announcing in September of 2020 that the live-action filming was now complete. Since then, the post-production work on the film has also been completed so it's now all set for release.
What Is the Story for Avatar: The Way of Water?
While many of the Avatar: The Way of Water details have remained under wraps, we do know that this second installment is set on Pandora approximately 13 years after the first movie. Jake Sully (Worthington) has lived on Pandora for many years since making the choice to permanently transfer his human consciousness into his Avatar body and become the new leader of the Na’vi people. He and Neytiri (Saldana), a Na’vi native, have since started a family and had children of their own.
The colonizing forces of the RDA and their mining operations have returned to Pandora in a revival of their original pursuits, forcing Jake and Neytiri to take their family and flee their home. While it’s unclear how exactly Lang will reprise his role as Colonel Miles Quaritch, he’s slated to return as the main villain for this and future installments of the Avatar franchise.
Avatar: The Way of Water will explore the unknown parts of Pandora and focus heavily on the planet’s underwater life, which is where we’ll be introduced to the Metkayina people. The Metkayina are a clan of Pandora natives who live among the reefs and oceans, and are the central community of the second film.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Cameron said of the sequel(s): “It will be a natural extension of all the themes, and the characters, and the spiritual undercurrents. Basically, if you loved the first movie, you're gonna love these movies, and if you hated it, you're probably gonna hate these. If you loved it at the time, and you said later you hated it, you're probably gonna love these.”
Alongside the trailer release, 20th Century Studios revealed the official plot synopsis for the film:
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.