As Avatar: The Way of Water continues doing victory laps around the pool talk and attention is already turning toward Avatar 3. In a new interview, Avatar series producer Jon Landau confirmed that Avatar 2‘s breakout character – the whale-like “Tulkun” sea creature named Payakan – will definitely be returning for Avatar 3. However, as a downside to that happy news, Avatar 3 will also see Payakan having to deal with his human nemesis, the vile whaler known as Mick Scoresby (Brendan Cowell)!
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“We view Payakan as a character, not just as a creature,” Landau told Empire Magazine. “We will continue to explore his relationship with Lo’ak.”
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER SPOILERS!
In Avatar 2, the Tulkun were introduced as a pivotal part of the Na’vi’s ongoing war with the human organization the RDA, which is invading the planet of Pandora. The Tulkun were both highly-intelligent lifeforms deeply bonded to the Na’vi’s Metkayina Tribe, as well as prized targets of the RDA, who harvest the sea creatures’ brain enzymes as a magic potion able to stop the human aging process. Jake Sully’s (Sam Worthington) youngest son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton) bonded with one Tulkun named Payakan, as they were both viewed as outcasts amongst their respective peoples.
During the climatic final act of Avatar: The Way of Water, Payakan broke the Tulkun code of non-violence and threw down against the RDA for slaughtering his people. Payakan’s skills on the battlefield and general backstory definitely made him a “character” in the fullest sense, rather than just another fantastical beast of Pandora, meant to wow us and be forgotten about later (see: Toruk from Avatar 1).
In fact, James Cameron and co. did such a good job building up Payakan as a character that Avatar fans will now be worrying for him all the way up until Avatar 3 – and not without good reason…
Avatar 3: A Moby Dick Tale?
With Mick Scoresby also returning, and everything we know about James Cameron’s “storytelling” preferences, it’s not hard to imagine Avatar 3 having some element of a Moby Dick storyline at work. Cameron loves to… “echo” the beats of archetypal or definitive stories, and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick still stands tall as one of the best tales about man’s obsessions with trying to tame nature – and paying the price.
Avatar 2 left Mick Scoresby maimed, with one of his arms being torn off in the high-seas fight with Payakan. That sounds like a pretty on-the-nose way to make Scoresby a Captain Ahab character (missing arm instead of the missing leg) who hunts endlessly for revenge against Payakan. With the Tulkun enzyme in his possession, Socresby could not only survive his injuries but conceivably live without an age limit to keep hunting and killing the Tulkun.
Scary stuff!
NEXT: Avatar 3 Will Introduce Na’vi Fire Tribe
Avatar 3 has a release date of December 20, 2024.
