Here’s What You Need To Know Before You Watch ‘Avatar 2’ Aka ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’

Thirteen years after Avatar landed in theaters, the first sequel arrives, and audiences are more than ready to return to Pandora. Solid first reactions from early screenings, including my own as a skeptic, have confirmed what many suspected would be the case. It’s a winner.

James Cameron’s ground-breaking epic Avatar smashed box office records grossing $2.92 billion against a $237 million budget. Now, ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water landing in theaters on Friday, December 16, 2022, the writer-director has been promoting the highly-anticipated and repeatedly delayed follow-up.

At a press conference in London, England, Cameron was joined by cast and crew, including returning actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang, as well as Avatar franchise newcomer Kate Winslet. Here are some of the highlights and things you want to know before heading back to Pandora, ideally in 3D and IMAX, for maximum effect.

James Cameron on when he knew he would return to Pandora

James Cameron: It’s an interesting question because it seems obvious to everyone, ‘Oh, you just made a bunch of money. Do a sequel,’ right? Steven Spielberg didn’t do a sequel to E.T., the highest-grossing film of its time. It’s not a no-brainer. Do you want to call down the lightning to strike again in the same spot? It’s a lot to live up to, but we have the amazing cast that returned, and we figured out a way to bring Sigourney back even though her character from the first film died. We also had this amazing family of artists, troupe players, and other actors. When you see a crowd scene of a hundred people in this movie, it’s the same ten actors just moved around, so it’s a small group who love each other and enjoy the process. Kate Winslet got to join that and feel that vibe as well, which was a big incentive for me, to come back and do this all again. I think it’s important for a sequel to honor what the audience loved about the experience the first time and get them off-balance and do things they don’t expect. There are a lot of surprises in terms of where the story goes that we’re not putting into the trailers and the TV spots. You have to experience it.

On where we find Jake Sully and Neytiri now

Sam Worthington: Jim (James Cameron) gave me a script that was Avatar 1.5 that, unto itself, was amazing and detailed and full of what they’ve gone through over that gap. Most people would have stuck on that one, but not this guy. I think it was part of Jim realizing that story was about them being warriors and taking on the battles of the clans and things like that. He wanted to explore what this family dynamic is, the natural extension of this love story, and it gave us a good jumping off point to understand how to fill in that gap that’s missing. It was pretty amazing.

Zoe Saldana: Neytiri and I have, in a way, lived parallel lives. It’s so funny because when something is very similar to you, you can’t see it. It’s just so close to you that it’s not in front of you. There is a level of fearlessness and rebellion that I have, I guess as a person, that Neytiri had as herself. The leap of falling in love with something outside of you that challenges you to see something you’ve never seen before has always been her dilemma. In my personal life, when I became a parent, fear entered my realm – the fear of losing something that you love so much. You spend a great deal of time creating these hypothetical scenarios that are just unimaginable. When I read the second script, that was Neytiri, but I didn’t see it then. I see it now. My job wasn’t to see it; it was to be it.

Cameron: You’re onto it. You may be fearless when you don’t have kids, but you learn fear when you have something greater than yourself that you could lose. That’s what both of your characters are dealing with. I hadn’t really thought of it in those terms, but that’s it exactly. Sam plays a character that would leap off of a Leonopteryx, go flying through the air with no parachute, to land on the biggest, meanest predator on the planet to solve his problem. Would he do that as a father of four? I think probably not (laughter).

Stephen Lang on returning as Quaritch

Stephen Lang: It was very exciting to come back, and I was just so honored to be able to deepen and expand on the vision Jim had for this character. In the first film, he’s very colorful, and he’s got personality and some great qualities, but he moves through everything like a mindless shark. In this iteration, first of all, there’s the magnificent irony Jim has written of him coming back as the very thing he has been trying to destroy and having to adjust to that. It was a pleasure for me to continue to massage this character and find the depth and maybe some of the humanity in him. He’s such a warm character and beloved by so many (laughs).

Kate Winslet on reuniting with Titanic director James Cameron

Kate Winslet: With it being Jim, I expected the absolute best of everything. It’s precise, thorough, and always meticulous, and the thing that pulled me in most of all, above everything else, is the characters he’s created. Jim has always written for women, characters who are not just strong but also leaders. They lead with their heart, with integrity, stand in their truth, and own their power. They have physical power that is admirable, and to be part of that, and included, was so flattering. Jim does not suffer fools, and I knew he was asking me because he knew I was too damn foolish not to say, ‘Oh, you see that in me? Well, guess what? I’m going to show you that I can do exactly that thing, and maybe that thing, and maybe that thing, and maybe that thing too.’ Of course, he expected no less. So I was just thrilled to be asked. When I was welcomed into this world that these guys created, it reminded me that what they did the first time was to develop that heartbeat. It’s one thing for Jim to write it, but it is quite another to find it, to give it life, a pulse, and real blood in those veins. It’s really extraordinary to be around that. It’s not a performance. It’s not things they came up with on the day. It is a universe, and it is something that is palpable. You feel it; you step into that space, it’s an empty space, but it is absolutely loaded with truths and dynamics that these guys built. It’s honestly very, very special to have been part of it.

Kate Winslet’s unofficial record for holding your breath underwater while filming

Cameron: I’m still pissed off because I’ve been a free diver for 50 years, and you smoked past me and everybody else, but Sigourney was very close.

Winslet: People keep talking about smashing Tom Cruise’s record, which people are saying is six minutes something. How do we know that Sigourney has not beaten Tom Cruise as well?

Cameron: That’s a good point. Well done.

Winslet: I have a video of when I surfaced from that breath hold, and the only reason I have it is because my husband snuck in. I knew that day that Kirk Krack, the diving coach, had said to me, ‘We’re going to go for another one today, Kate,’ and I said to Ned, ‘Look, please don’t come because I don’t want you videoing and I’ll just feel all pressure-y and whatever. Please don’t be there.’ Anyway, he snuck in, and I have the video of me surfacing saying, ‘Am I dead? Am I dead? Have I died?’ And then going, ‘What was it?’ Straight away, I wanted to know my time, and I couldn’t believe it was seven minutes and fifteen seconds. Having been told that, do you want to know what the next thing I say is? I said, ‘We need to radio set. I wanted Jim to know right away.’ That’s the first thing I wanted to do.

Cameron: Not competitive at all.

Winslet: Not remotely. It definitely wasn’t a competition.

Avatar: The Way of Water lands in theaters on Friday, December 16, 2022.