So far, Avatar: The Way of Water has looked pretty chill. Trailers for the very belated sequel to the highest grossing movie ever (not adjusted for inflation) have mostly dwelled on showing new parts of Pandora. There sure has been a lot of underwater frolicking, hasn’t there? No more. Yes, there’s some aquatic tomfoolery in the film’s final trailer, but there’s new (if vague) glimpses of some of the darker business set to go down over its epic length.
Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña are back as Jake and Neytiri, the former human and his Na’vi betrothed. They’ve decamped for far flung regions of Pandora, raising their growing family, including Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuk (Trinity Bliss), and the adopted human child Spider (Jack Champion). It appears that one of them is proving a bit rebellious, which is to say willing to stand up against the invading Earthlings, including Stephen Lang’s nefarious Colonel Quaritch, who is born again, this time as a Na’vi avatar.
Director James Cameron recently revealed that he had to fight — just a little bit — to release the 2009 original the way he wanted. All that happened, though, was an exec told him to make it shorter, and Cameron just told him to “get the f*ck out of my office.” He seems to be a little less confident this time, threatening to end the series early if this new one underperforms. So if you like chilling in Pandora, better go see it when it opens on December 16.
You can watch the Avatar: The Way of Water trailer above.
