Avatar: The Way of Water Writers Address That Controversial Decision in the Finale

With Avatar: The Way of Water only being the second big-screen installment in the Avatar franchise, it’s difficult to say that fans know the characters better than the filmmakers, especially when the sequel also introduced so many new figures. That said, some of the decisions in the final act of the film made by characters didn’t entirely sit well with audiences, igniting divisive responses to those choices. Writers on the film Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver recently addressed that specific decision and the ways in which it is meant to reflect some of the overall themes the film aimed to explore. Avatar: The Way of Water is in theaters now.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Avatar: The Way of Water

After the implication that Spider (Jack Champion) was the human son of Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the young boy spends most of the movie being held captive by Quaritch while the villain aims to kill Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his family. Despite these more overtly nefarious motives, Jake defeats Quaritch in the film’s final scenes and leaves Quaritch for dead, and even though Quaritch was responsible not just for a kidnapping but also for multiple Na’vi deaths, Spider rescues Quaritch, though abandons him to reunite with the Sully family.

“The movie allows Spider to explore these ambivalent feelings he’s having, and, I mean, I think it’s fine that the audience is like, ‘Don’t rescue him!’” Silver revealed to Variety. “But the idea that Spider is compelled to rescue Quaritch is interesting from a character point of view.”

Jaffa added, “It’s this father-son theme that we dive so deeply into — no pun intended.”

While these comments might not make audiences feel any better about those decisions, the pair’s remarks at least clarify how intentional those actions were and how they might pay off further in upcoming installments. 

The writers also confirmed that, while we never met Spider’s mother, she was a fully fleshed out figure that was taken into account for Spider’s journey in the sequel.

“There’s an entire backstory of that character,” Jaffa confirmed. “We talked a lot about his mother. She didn’t need to be a character in the script or in the movie, but we did have to understand her relationship with Quaritch and how Spider ended up left behind on Pandora.”

Avatar: The Way of Water is in theaters now. Avatar 3 is expected to land in theaters in December of 2024.

What did you think of Spider’s actions? Let us know in the comments!