Why Avatar: The Way of Water Introduces Many New Characters (Exclusive)

The original Avatar mainly focused on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his attempts to immerse himself in the culture of the Na’vi, while Avatar: The Way of Water brings more figures to the storytelling forefront. Producer Jon Landau recently detailed how the upcoming sequel shifts its focus from a love story to being a richer exploration of this fantastical realm, which requires the development of more characters and more perspectives through which to explore these themes, which are also meant to reflect the challenges and struggles faced by people in the real world. Avatar: The Way of Water lands in theaters on December 16th.

“Well, on the first movie, we really didn’t get to explore characters outside of Jake and Neytiri [Zoe Saldaña]. It was a love story. It was their story,” Landau recalled to ComicBook.com. “And so many of the scenes were focused on them. We really viewed Avatar: The Way of Water and the future sequels as a way of introducing people to more characters, each that has their own flaws. These are not perfect characters. None of them are superheroes. You watch the film and family is the most universal theme of all, so we wanted a theme that was relatable everywhere, but we’re telling the story not just from the parent’s perspective.”

He continued, “I think what makes it interesting is we have these teenagers, we have these kids, and they come into this story. When we meet them, they’re insecure. They don’t know what life means, they’re living in the shadow of their father. One doesn’t even know who her father was. They’re in a mixed-race relationship, family. That, again, makes it relatable. How many teenagers today are struggling with where they are in their own lives and parents struggling the same way? Then we meet a whole new clan, a clan who doesn’t look like the Omaticaya, but they’re still Na’vi, a clan who doesn’t want to accept the Sullys when they first come because they are different. They don’t have bodies like that. They’ll have no purpose here.”

These new characters aren’t the only ways in which the film aims to replicate the real world, as the nefarious RDA organization has parallels to real-world corporate greed.

“That’s a universal theme today, as we deal with our society and people migrating and people becoming refugees and dealing with all that. And then we have the RDA side of it, the imperialists coming back to take over a planet for greed, for no reason and causing epic — we show it right at the beginning — epic destruction on this beautiful planet that we think is beautiful,” the producer added. “Why? For what? Again, using science fiction as a metaphor for the world in which we live.”

Avatar: The Way of Water lands in theaters on December 16th.

Are you looking forward to meeting these new characters? Let us know in the comments!