WithAvatar: The Way of Waterwell on its way to earning over $2 billion and James Cameron set to take another place on the top box office results of all-time, inquiring minds have turned to the threequel in the blue alien cat people franchise, especially with Cameron’s comments that it would reveal a darker side of the otherwise tree-hugging Na’vi.
In an interview with Empire Magazine (via Variety), longtime James Cameron collaborator Jon Landau spoke aboutAvatar 3’s Ash People Na’vi and their leader Varang, played by Oona Chaplin (Taboo).
Related:James Cameron Says Avatar 3 Will Show The Dark Side Of The Na’vi
Oona Chaplin—granddaughter of famed silent comedian and studio chief, Charlie Chaplin—has made quite the name for herself in genre shows, starring as Tom hardy’s lover/sister in the FX period supernatural dramaTabooand as Robb Stark’s wife inGame of Thrones. In that seriesshe experienced a red weddingof her own, but she’ll be the one in red whenAvatar 3hits theaters as the leader of a volcanic tribe of Na’vi, nastier than the lovey-dovey ones shown to date, according to producer Jon Landau. Even James Cameron himself called the tribe aggressive.
For fans wondering how the Na’vi, depicted as the reasonable group versus the brutal, exploitative humans shown throughout the two films to date, can end up being themselves somehow on the same spectrum, Landau had this to say: “There are good humans and there are bad humans. It’s the same thing on the Na’vi side. Oftentimes, people don’t see themselves as bad. What is the root cause of how they evolve into what we perceive as bad? Maybe there are other factors there that we aren’t aware of.” Chaplin praised theAvatarseries as aTrojan Horse franchise where James Cameron is able to sneak messagesinto otherwise big, bombastic action spectacle.
Landau went on to describe howAvatar 4will see a big time jump in the series andAvatar 5will end up taking place on Earth. It’s interesting, not only for a franchise that has been all about humans exploiting another planet, but in that Cameron, along with originalAliendirector Ridley Scott, wanted to take the Ellen Ripley side of the franchise to Earth for their fifth outing, but then he turned to his ownAliens-inspired franchise while Scott played intheAlien-prequel sandbox withPrometheusandCovenant. It looks like Cameron will finally get to make his big sci-fi fifth entry on Earth and in his own way, without having to compromise for anyone else along the way. So far, he’s seeing big success withAvatar: The Way of Waterand the momentum doesn’t look to be slowing.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris in theaters now.
More:Avatar: The Way of Water Surpasses Star Wars: The Force Awakens Globally
