A central component of Avatar and the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water is the gorgeous planet of Pandora and the ways in which humans are attempting to exploit it, but according to producer Jon Landau, Avatar 5 will see Zoe Saldaña’s Neytiri traveling to Earth. While the debut film showcased some of the worst traits of humanity and their need to colonize and destroy other planets and cultures, the producer noted that the overall storyline will require Neytiri to witness a broader spectrum of humanity and civilization for a better understanding of her partner Jake (Sam Worthington). Avatar: The Way of Water lands in theaters on December 16th.
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“Well, it’s funny,” Landau revealed to io9. “I wasn’t going to talk about it, but I’ve now subsequently heard that [director] Jim [Cameron] has talked about it a little bit. In movie five there is a section of the story where we go to Earth. And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes, to what exists on Earth.”
In the first film, the Na’vi had a limited understanding about humans, as they were most concerned with the sinister motivations of the RDA organization and their pursuit of unobtainium. Despite ultimately accepting Jake as one of their own, he was clearly an exception to the majority of humans’ more nefarious goals.
“Earth is not just represented by the RDA,” the producer pointed out. “Just like you’re defined by the choices you make in life, not all humans are bad. Not all Na’vi are good. And that’s the case here on Earth. And we want to expose Neytiri to that.”
With the last installment in the series being released 13 years ago, it’s clear that the filmmakers have been productive with their time, as they’ve already wrapped up filming on Avatar 3 and have partially filmed Avatar 4. The costly projects will need to resonate strongly with audiences if they want to see all films completed and released, but even if public interest in the franchise dries up before Avatar 5 can be released in 2028, Landau confirmed that each installment will feel complete as a standalone adventure.
“I think right now we want each movie to do exactly what the first movie did,” the producer confirmed. “We want [audiences] to go, ‘Wow. Where else could they go? They just showed us everything on Pandora.’ Then you go, ‘Holy cow. They’re going to the oceans. Wow. The oceans are amazing.’ Okay, that’s over. Where can it go? Same thing from an emotional story. We end the [first] movie with Jake and this transformation. But we’ve suffered the loss of [Sigourney Weaver’s character] Grace, and we’ve suffered other things. We want people to come out of this movie with an emotional resolution that both calls for a yearning to go back to those characters and to the world.”
Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16th. Avatar 5 is slated to hit theaters on December 22, 2028.
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