Avatar: The Way of Water


Avatar: The Way of Water is a 2022 American epic science fiction film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is the second in the Avatar film series. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña and Stephen Lang reprise their roles from the first film, with Sigourney Weaver returning in an additional role and Kate Winslet joining the cast. The plot follows Jake Sully, a human-Na'vi hybrid, and his family on the habitable moon Pandora. Hunted by RDA forces, they flee to an oceanic region to seek refuge with the Metkayina clan.
Following the success of Avatar in 2009, two sequels were announced, with the first aiming for a 2014 release. However, the addition of two more sequels—for a total of five films—and the need to develop new technology to film performance capture scenes underwater, led to significant delays. The filming process, which occurred simultaneously with the third film in the franchise, Avatar: Fire and Ash, began in Manhattan Beach, California, on August 15, 2017. Production moved to Wellington, New Zealand the following month, and was completed three years later, in September 2020. With an estimated budget of $350–460 million, Avatar: The Way of Water is one of the most expensive films ever made. It was produced by Cameron's company Lightstorm Entertainment.
After repeated delays in release, Avatar: The Way of Water premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square theater in London on December 6, 2022, and was released in the United States on December 16, by 20th Century Studios. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the visual effects and technical achievements but criticized the runtime. It was a major box office success, breaking multiple records. It grossed $2.320 billion in its first theatrical run, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2022 and the third-highest-grossing film of all time. Among its many accolades, it was named one of the top-ten films of 2022 by The National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. It was also nominated for four awards at the 95th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Best Visual Effects. Fire and Ash was released in 2025.

Plot

Sixteen years after the Na'vi repelled the Resources Development Administration from Pandora, Jake Sully is chief of the Omatikaya clan and raises his family with Neytiri: sons Neteyam and Lo'ak, daughter Tuktirey "Tuk", and adopted daughter Kiri, born from Dr. Grace Augustine's inert avatar. Miles "Spider" Socorro, son of the late Colonel Miles Quaritch, frequently visits Jake and Neytiri‘s children while being raised by human scientists who have stayed on Pandora.
The RDA returns to colonize Pandora. Among them are Recombinants, Na'vi avatars implanted with memories of deceased human soldiers, with a recombinant Quaritch as their leader. Jake leads a guerrilla warfare campaign against the RDA. During a counterinsurgency mission, Quaritch and his subordinates capture Jake's children. Jake and Neytiri free them, but Quaritch captures Spider, subsequently recognizing him as his son. After the RDA unsuccessfully interrogates Spider, Quaritch decides to spend time with his son to gain his favor. In return, Spider teaches Quaritch about Na'vi culture and language.
Aware of the danger posed by Spider's knowledge, Jake and his family leave the Omatikaya and relocate to Pandora's eastern sea, inhabited by the aquatic Metkayina clan. There, the family assimilates with the Metkayina: Kiri develops a spiritual bond with the sea, Jake and Neytiri assist clan chief Tonowari and his wife Ronal, while Lo'ak befriends Tsireya, Tonowari's daughter. Following an altercation between Lo'ak and Tonowari's son Aonung after the latter mocked Kiri, Lo'ak apologizes for initiating the fight.
Later, Aonung and his friends entice Lo'ak to join a hunting trip, but strand him in a sea predator's territory. Lo'ak is saved from the predator by a Tulkun named Payakan, and the two bond. Upon his return, Lo'ak wins Aonung's respect by unexpectedly taking the blame on Aonung's behalf instead of exposing him, but is told that Payakan is an outcast from the other Tulkun. Later, Kiri links to the Metkayina's underwater Spirit Tree and meets her mother Grace in a vision, but suffers a seizure underwater and nearly drowns. Jake summons his scientist friends Norm Spellman and Max Patel for help; they diagnose Kiri with epilepsy, warning that she may die if she links with the Spirit Tree underwater again.
Meanwhile, Quaritch tracks Norm and Max's aircraft to the Metkayina's archipelago. Bringing Spider with him, Quaritch joins forces with the RDA's marine operations and commandeers a whaling vessel hunting the Tulkun. Quaritch's squad raids the archipelago, but failing to find Jake after interrogating the tribe, burns the village to draw him out. Lo'ak mentally links with Payakan and learns that Payakan was cast out from the Tulkun because he attacked human whalers who killed his mother, violating the Tulkun vow of pacifism.
When the Metkayina learn of the RDA’s Tulkun killings, Lo'ak goes to warn Payakan, accompanied by most of the children. Payakan, they find, has been tagged for capture by the RDA’s crew, though he escapes as the children manage to pull out the tag and are caught. Jake, Neytiri, and the Metkayina confront the humans and rescue the children. Quaritch forces Jake to surrender, but Payakan attacks the vessel, sparking a battle between the Metkayina and the humans. Spider cripples the RDA vessel, while Neteyam rescues Lo'ak, Tsireya, and Spider, but Neteyam is fatally shot.
Enraged by Neteyam's death, Jake and Neytiri attack the RDA crew, seeking to rescue Kiri and Tuk. After freeing Tuk, Jake finds Quaritch holding Kiri hostage, but Quaritch releases her when Neytiri threatens to kill Spider. They all get trapped inside the sinking vessel. After a tense skirmish, Jake strangles Quaritch unconscious and is rescued by Lo'ak and Payakan, while Kiri saves Neytiri and Tuk. Spider saves Quaritch from drowning but rejects him and rejoins Jake's family.
After Neteyam's funeral, Jake informs Tonowari of his decision to leave the Metkayina, but Tonowari declares Jake's family part of the clan and welcomes them to stay. Jake's family accepts their new lives at sea but vows to continue their struggle against the RDA.

Cast

  • Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, a former human who fell in love with Neytiri and befriended the Na'vi after becoming a part of the Avatar Program, eventually taking their side in their conflict with humans and transferred his mind into his avatar permanently. In this film, he and his family have left the Omatikaya clan and joined the Metkayina clan.
  • Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri, Jake's wife who left the Omatikaya and joined the Metkayina.
  • Sigourney Weaver as Kiri, the 14-year-old daughter of Dr. Grace Augustine's Na'vi avatar, who was adopted by Jake and Neytiri. Weaver appeared in the first film as Dr. Grace Augustine, a human scientist who took the side of the Na'vi and died during the conflict. Her Na'vi avatar is revealed to have birthed Kiri despite her death. Like most of the cast, she learned free-diving for the film and filmed scenes underwater.
  • * Weaver also reprises her role as Dr. Grace Augustine, despite Weaver's saying in 2014 that she would not do so, though she and Cameron confirmed prior to then that she would return in the sequels. She appears in this film in a video recording and in a spiritual vision in which she meets with Kiri.
  • Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, formerly a human military commander who led the forces of the RDA, the human organization colonizing Pandora, and died in their conflict with the Na'vi in the first film. He and other fallen soldiers were later resurrected as Na'vi "Recombinants". He seeks revenge against Jake and his family. Cameron said that Quaritch would act as the main antagonist in all four planned sequels.
  • * Lang also reprises his role as the late human Quaritch in a contingency video prepared for his Recombinant self.
  • Kate Winslet as Ronal, a free diver of the Metkayina and Tonowari's wife, who is pregnant. Winslet called Ronal "a pivotal character in the ongoing story" but also "relatively small comparative to the lengthy shoot" since shooting all her scenes only took a month. It marks her first time working with performance capture, and motion capture altogether. She, like most of the cast, also had to learn free diving for the film; while filming an underwater scene, she held her breath for over seven minutes, a new record for any film scene shot underwater.
  • Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, chieftain of the reef people clan of Metkayina.
  • Joel David Moore as Dr. Norm Spellman, a former scientist of the Avatar Program who chose to side with the Na'vi in the first film.
  • CCH Pounder as Mo'at, the Omatikaya's spiritual leader and Neytiri's mother.
  • Edie Falco as General Frances Ardmore, the commander in charge of the RDA's interests.
  • Brendan Cowell as Captain Mick Scoresby, the head of an RDA private sector marine hunting vessel on the moon of Pandora.
  • Jemaine Clement as Dr. Ian Garvin, a marine biologist working for the RDA.
  • Jamie Flatters as Neteyam, Jake and Neytiri's 16-year-old son and oldest child.
  • * Jeremy Irwin as young Neteyam.
  • * Joel David Moore's son Oliver cameos as the infant Neteyam.
  • Britain Dalton as Lo'ak, Jake and Neytiri's 14-year-old son.
  • * Chloe Coleman as young Lo'ak.
  • Trinity Bliss as Tuktirey "Tuk", Jake and Neytiri's 8-year-old daughter and their youngest child.
  • Jack Champion as Miles "Spider" Socorro, the 16-year-old son of Quaritch born in Hell's Gate who was raised by scientists who stayed on Pandora and wears Na'vi attire and an oxygen mask when outside a building. He is inseparable from Jake and Neytiri's children.
  • Bailey Bass as Tsireya "Reya", a graceful and strong free diver of the Metkayina and Tonowari and Ronal's daughter.
  • Filip Geljo as Aonung, a young male hunter and free diver of the Metkayina and Tonowari and Ronal's son.
  • Duane Evans Jr. as Rotxo, a young male hunter and free diver of the Metkayina
  • Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, the disgraced former head administrator for the RDA mining operation in the first film, who appears in a recording made for Quaritch's recombinant.
  • Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel, a former Avatar program scientist who allies with the Na'vi.
  • Matt Gerald as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, a Recombinant under Quaritch's command who was killed by a hammerhead titanothere in the last film.
  • * Gerald also reprises his role as the original human Wainfleet from the first film shown in Quaritch's video recording.
Additionally, Alicia Vela-Bailey appears uncredited as Zdinarsk "Z-Dog", a Recombinant and member of the 1st Recom Squadron. Vela-Bailey previously portrayed Ikeyni, the Omatikaya hunter trainee Saeyla, and a blonde woman in a bar in the first film. She is also featured as a stunt performer in both films. CJ Jones appears, also uncredited, as a Metkayina interpreter of the Na'vi sign language he created. Keston John plays Tarsem, a member of the Omatikaya clan who succeeds Jake when he and his family flee to the Metkayina territories.