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One thing we do know is that Cameron won’t
be limited to terra firma: he’s gathered some
of the most stunning underwater photography
ever taken as reference material for rendering
Pandora’s fathomless depths in a story that
will span land, sea and air.2 __MORE NA’VI
Avatar 2will introduce Jake and Neytiri’s sons
Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo’ak (Britain
Dalton) and their daughter Tuktirey (Trinity
Bliss) as well as members of the Metkayina
clan — an ocean-dwelling tribe that populates
Pandora’s reefs. The new tribe should provide
a cultural counterpoint to the first film’s
jungle-dwelling Omaticaya, providing some
needed variety. Perhaps the newest addition,
Kate Winslet’s ‘Ronal’, counts among their
subaquatic number. After all, Cameron had
no problem throwing her in the water way back
onTitanic...3 __MORE WILDLIFE
If the Na’vi were the stars ofAvatar, Pandoran
fauna were the standout supporting roles.IT TAKES EXTRAORDINARY
confidence to begin production onfoursequels
without waiting to see if there’s appetite for
one. Considering the first of them won’t arrive
until a decade after the original, it’s easy to see
the ongoingAvatarproject as a monument to
hubris. But James Cameron is no ordinary
filmmaker andAvatarwas far from an ordinary
film. Perched atop a worldwide gross of nearly
$2.8 billion, it is quite comfortably the most
successful film in history, and ifStar Wars’
return dominated cinema in the 2010s, then
Avatar’s resurgence may well define the 2020s.
Here’s what we hope Cameron has in store.1 __MORE PANDORA
From the levitating peaks of the Hallelujah
Mountains to the colossal, gnarled boughs of
the Hometree, Cameron created a vast new
world inAvatarbut showed us a mere fraction
of it. With the sequels we want to be explorers,ppy
its victims before eating them alive; the second
an evolutionary curiosity that hurls its own
barbed head to skewer prey. One addition
will be the ilu: plesiosaur-like creatures that
water-dwelling Na’vi ride instead of banshees.
If you’re wondering how Cameron will top the
attack on the Tree Of Souls, just imagine the
aquatic warfare in store when warring water
tribes take their Ilu into battle.4 __ MORE QUARITCH
Stephen Lang’s Colonel Miles Quaritch will
return to growl his way through all four
sequels as the series’ principal antagonist
— a fact that poses some interesting logistical
diffi culties after having been impaled by two
fi ve-foot arrows. Will he return cybernetically
enhanced? Cloned? Or, in an ironic twist, will
he be forced into an Avatar body of his own?
Perhaps a surrogate human body controlled by
an Avatar link unit? Whatever the method, you
can bet the house he’ll eat your eyes for
Jujubes regardless.AVATAR 2 IS IN CINEMAS FROM 17 DECEMBER 2020ILLUSTRATION OLL Y GIBBS