Avatar: The Way of Water’s Kate Winslet Reveals Rivalry With Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri

Disney is getting ready to release their highly anticipated sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water, and we’re slowly finding out what exactly the movie is about. Director James Cameron has already wrapped filming on the third film and is hard at work on the fourth. but the director recently revealed exactly what would it take for the third film to get scrapped. The film will also feature the return of Sigourney Weaver, whose character died in the first film, and will introduce us to a new character that will be played by Kate Winslet. During a new interview with Empire Magazine, Winslet revealed that her character will have a rivalry with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). 

“Ronal is a formidable female character,” Winslet told the magazine. “Like Neytiri, she holds her family’s needs close to her heart and will stop at nothing to protect her children and her people. A true mother, in every sense.”

“These two females are so aligned in their deep desire to keep their individual families safe. They are both powerful, willful creatures who respect their husbands but will not be led by them. They carve their own paths, and they expect to be listened to. They are both physically as capable as one another, and in the world of Pandora, the need for physical ability amongst all tribespeople is not only important — it is crucial. They also need to possess equal strength to their male counterparts, which both these females do. In staggering ways. Working with Zoe was just wonderful. Her commitment to the world of Pandora and being Na’vi is so embedded within her now that it is truly inspiring to be around. It’s as if it’s in her blood now.” The actress added.

Cameron has been developing sequels to his record-breaking film for over a decade. The studio has announced four sequels to Avatar, with two already filmed, and the other two are waiting to see how the first does at the box office. The director shot both sequels back to back due to how the scenes they needed to film for both. About a year ago, Cameron confirmed to Variety why he shot the films this way.

“We mixed the schedules for 2 and 3 together, based on the types of scenes and the environments,” Cameron revealed to the trade. “I said, let’s just treat it like it’s a six-hour miniseries and we’re only going to go to Frankfurt once. We’re going to shoot all the scenes from 2 and 3 at the same time. That was more or less the motif. Actor availability was an issue as well. Anything that had to be done with a specific actor, we did all the scenes for 2 and 3 together — and a little bit of 4. Because once again, I had to shoot the kids out. They’re allowed to age six years in the middle of the story on page 25 of movie 4. So I needed everything before then, and then everything after, we’ll do later.”

The sequel is confirmed to feature several returning stars that include Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stepehn Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, and Sigourney Weaver. The cast for the sequels will include several more newcomers than returning members, though, with the likes of Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones all set to appear as well. Plot details for the sequels are currently unknown.

Avatar: The Way of Water is set to arrive on December 16, 2022, with Avatar 3 set to debut two years later on December 20, 2024.

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