Avatar: The Way of Water has been in making for thirteen years, and finally we are days away from going back to the magical world of Pandora. In the upcoming feature, we’ll explore a whole new side of the mystical alien world along with some new characters. After the unparalleled success of the original movie, James Cameron took his time to chart out the story for multiple sequels, and the core theme of the upcoming feature is familial bonding, and how far we can go to protect the ones we love. On-screen it translates into Jake and Neytiri having a family, and one of the additions to it is a Na’vi teenager, Kiri, played by the director’s long-time collaborator Sigourney Weaver. In a new conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor spoke about how she fought to shape her new character.
In the original movie, Weaver played the head of the Avatar mission Dr. Grace Augustine who was subsumed into the Tree Of Life by the end of the movie. So when Weaver’s casting was announced fans instantly started theorizing how Grace could be brought back as based on the final visuals it was hard to imagine what really happened to her. Finally, all speculations were put to rest when her new character, Kiri, was revealed. Per Cameron, "the idea for Kiri came from, well, is Grace really dead?” He further explained, “I thought, hang on, there’s this avatar. What could I do with the idea of bringing Sigourney back, playing a kid? It was just a fun idea. I couldn’t get it out of my head.”
Weaver was quite “delighted” to be recast as the Na’vi teenager. Though the actor revealed that she objected to the initial design of her character, which she described as “too neat and pretty.” The actor and director finally settled for a more awkward teenage version of Kiri. In a separate interview, Weaver described Kiri as a “typical adolescent” who has a "deep love for all things in the world, creatures, plants, everything. So, it makes sense that she can’t be too pretty or neat. All over the cast has commended Cameron’s vision, and certainly, it pays off in the stunning visuals of the upcoming feature.
Along with Weaver, the movie features Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, along with young actors Jamie Flatters, Chloe Coleman, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, and more.
Avatar: The Way of Water premieres December 15. You can check out the trailer below: