Avatar: The Way of Water

to begin with this year , James Cameron’sAvatarwas topped as the highest - gross motion picture of all time by Marvel ’s adult finale , Avengers : Endgame . This gave Cameron faith that the moviegoing world can still be captured by a major handout in the streaming epoch , giving him hope that his forthcoming sequel toAvatarcan still be a box billet success .

Avatar 2has been in maturation for old age , but it ’s finally on the way – well into production with its cast in office – for a 2021 release . So , here are 5 things that have been confirmed forAvatar 2,plus   5 rooter hypothesis !

Confirmed: There are both fresh and familiar faces in the cast

Most of the lead actors from the firstAvatarfilm are returning for the sequel , let in Sam Worthington , Zoe Saldana , Sigourney Weaver , and even Stephen Lang , whose role on the face of it died in the first film ( “ I ’m not going to say precisely how we ’re convey him back , but it ’s a science fiction history , after all,”in James Cameron ’s words ) .

But they ’ll also be joined by some exciting Modern adept , including Kate Winslet , Vin Diesel , revere the Walking Dead ’s Cliff Curtis , David “ Lupin ” Thewlis , Michelle Yeoh , Flight of the Conchords ’ Jemaine Clement , andThe Sopranos ’ Edie Falco . So , we ’ll have a nice intermixture of fresh and familiar face .

Fan theory: Eywa brainwashed Jake

In the first movie , pretty much right after Jake plugs his hair into the Tree of Voices to connect with Neytiri , he decides to betray his own raceway and join the Na’vi in fight back the humans . Now , this could be seen as Jake putting honey before reason . This is a common problem in sci - fi stories – Ex Machina , The Terminator , The Hunger Gamesetc . – and it ’s also sleep together as “ The Dulcinea force . ”

But it could also be seen as a terrifying scene in which Jake was brainwash by Eywa , the Na’vi ’s deity , into betraying the humans and recover Pandora for the Na’vi . This would make a heck of a plot twist inAvatar 2and might be the way to regenerate audiences ’ pastime in this level after all these year .

Confirmed: Avatar 2 is the first movie ever to shoot performance-capture scenes underwater

The firstAvatarfilm was only made possible by the invention of performance - capture engineering . James Cameron could n’t have made the film without it . He has faced a like trouble with the sequel . He need to explore the unseen ecosystem of Pandora , interchangeable to how George Lucas strived to introduce new and exciting earth in everyStar Warsfilm .

This postulate visualizing sections of the sequels set underwater . Cameron did n’t want to use CGI to make the underwater environments;he want to in reality shoot them submersed . Performance capture has never been shot submerged before , and newfangled package had to be developed . Ergo , Avatar 2will bethe first movie ever to shoot performance - capture scene submerged .

Fan theory: The Na’vi themselves were genetically engineered

Pretty much every other species besides the Na’vi that we see dwell Pandora in the originalAvatarfilm has six legs . Neytiri and the eternal sleep of the Na’vi have two legs , propose they ’re not really Pandora natives – or , at the very least , they do n’t have 100 % Pandora native DNA .

The R.D.A. infiltrated the Na’vi when they first make it on Pandora by putting human soldier inside Na’vi bodies to produce human - Na’vi hybrids as part of the Avatar Program . But it seems like the Na’vi have already been genetically engineered from the DNA of Pandora ’s organic life and some other humanoid species . There could be more to the Na’vi ’s backstory than we ’ve been tell .

Confirmed: It’ll (finally!) be released on December 17, 2021

Having been first announced with a 2014 handout date that was subsequently delayed until 2015 , then December 2017 , then December 2018 , and then December 18 , 2020,Avatar 2willfinally – although we ’ve heard that before – be arriving in multiplexes on December 17 , 2021 . A holiday release is a sassy mind since the firstAvatarfilm became the highest - grossing movie of all clock time in this firing windowpane .

In the Christmas 2021 season , Avatar 2will face stiff competition fromHotel Transylvania 4 , the plastic film adaptation of Broadway’sWicked , Robert Downey , Jr. ’s thirdSherlock Holmesfilm , andKillers of the Flower Moon , Martin Scorsese ’s upcoming historical epic starringhis two muses , Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio .

Fan theory: Colonel Miles Quaritch will become half-machine

Stephen Lang ’s nefarious character Colonel Miles Quaritch seemed to die at the end of the first movie , buthe ’s been confirmed to be returning in the sequel . Quaritch will reportedly remain the main baddie in all of the sequels , and Lang ’s portrayal will require performance capture . So , peradventure Quaritch will rejoin with mechanically skillful parts .

If his body was mostly destroy in the first picture , but his heart was still beating , maybe he was put into a mostly automatic suit of clothes , a little like how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader . After all , Deadline did liken the character ’s future to Vaderafter speaking to James Cameron about Lang ’s part in the sequel .

Confirmed: The plot involves a second R.D.A. invasion

harmonize to the plot of land details that have been free , Avatar 2will be set 12 years after the first picture . Jake Sully has settled down and set forth a category with Neytiri following the Na’vi ’s triumph over the R.D.A. ( the invading human military force that brought Jake to Pandora in the first place ) .

However , their tranquil creation is interrupt when the R.D.A. returns to Pandora to end what they started . This could be seen as another Starkiller Base game – it ’s the same accurate conflict from the first one , repeat – but hopefully , with Jake being in a entirely unlike place now than he was in the master copy , it ’ll still feel fresh .

Fan theory: Humanity will die out on Earth

The whole understanding for the humanity ’ arrival on Pandora in the firstAvatarmovie is that humanity demand unobtainium ( it ’s been said before , but that was a really crummy name for a fancied precious material ) to survive . In the divinatory ( but also very naturalistic ) future ofAvatar , the human race has used up all of Earth ’s natural resources and is on the threshold of quenching .

The human being ’ mission to extract unobtainium failed when Jake Sully conjoin the Na’vi ’s side and overthrew them . IfAvatar 2picks up 12 years after the original , humanity might have pass out . Human extinction could at least be close .

Confirmed: It’s the first of four planned sequels

James Cameron is planning for theAvatarsaga to span five movies . After the 2d movie , there are three additional sequels slated for subsequent years . Most major cast members – including Sam Worthington , Zoe Saldana , and Sigourney Weaver – are contract for more installments .

Cameron has been blunt in suppose that ifAvatar 2doesn’t do well at the box spot , we probably wo n’t be seeingAvatar 5(although Sigourney Weaver and producer Jon Landau have conversely hinted thatthe fourth and fifth films are in product ) , but if all last according to program , we ’ll seeAvatar 3 in 2023 ( or , if history serves us well , in 2033 ) .

Fan theory: It’ll end with a cliffhanger

While the firstAvatarfilm had to stand on its own , the second will just bethe next chapter in an on-going five - part account electric discharge . Although Bob Iger has suggested thatAvatar 4and5are up in the aura pendingAvatar 2 ’s box office performance , it seems likely thatAvatar 3will be put out no matter , because it ’s been shoot back - to - back withAvatar 2 .

NEXT : The Batman : 5 Things That Have Been Confirmed ( And 5 Fan Theories )