Come on in, the water's fine! Thirteen years after James Cameron unveiled his sci-fi epic Avatar to the world — winning three Oscars and going on to become the highest grossing film of all-time worldwide — it's finally time to return to Pandora in Avatar: The Way of Water.
Set more than a decade after the first film — which ended with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) renouncing his human self to live forever among the Na'vi — The Way of Water tells the story of the Sully family, which includes Jake, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their children: Na'vi-born Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss), along with an adopted human son, Spider (Jack Champion).
"The Way of Water connects all things," Lo'ak says in the trailer. "Before your birth, and after your death."
The sequel introduces the Metkayina reef clan, led by Kate Winslet's Ronal. The human cast, meanwhile, includes Edie Falco's RDA commander, doctors played by Michelle Yeoh and Jemaine Clement, and the return of Stephen Lang's Colonel Miles Quaritch, who died at the end of the original film but returns as the main antagonist.
The original Avatar earned nine total Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Production Design (known as Best Art Direction at the time).
Avatar: The Way of Water is the first of four planned sequels that will hit theaters in 2022, 2024, 2026 and 2028, all of which Cameron has said will "test the limits of what cinema can do." The Way of Water arrives in theaters on December 16. Watch the trailer below.
This article was originally published on May 9, 2022.
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