By Travis Johnson
What have Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) been doing since audiences last took a trip to the rainforest moon of Pandora? Popping out kids, it seems – three of ’em! The Disney Parks YouTube channel have dropped a short clip of the Avatar 2 cast visiting the new Disney Pandora attractions and having what looks to be a grand old time (that’s it embedded above), but they’ve kind of buried the lede a little bit here. The big news is that Avatar 2 – and probably 3, 4, and 5, unless 2 goes to some really dark places – is full of goddamn kids.
To wit, we have:
Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Jake and Neytiri’s first born son.
Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Jake and Neytiri’s second born.
Tuktirey: (Trinity Bliss) (took-tee’-ray), youngest of the Sully family.
Plus a bunch of young’uns from the new Metkayina clan, who are a seagoing tribe of Na’Vi:
Tsireya (Bailey Bass), a graceful and strong free-diver – the young Neytiri of the ocean.
Aonung (Filip Geljo), a young male hunter/free-diver.
Rotxo (Duane Evans Jr.), a young male hunter/free-diver.
and a (possibly evil) human kid:
Javier “Spider” Socorro (Jake Champion) a teenager born on the human base of Hell’s Gate, but who “prefers his time in the Pandoran rainforest”.
Hrmm.
Also in the mix: returning dead folks Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang, plus Cliff Curtis as Metkayina leader Tonowari, and Kate Winslet as “Ronal” – whoever that is.
So, a few things we can glean from this: Jake’s avatar body seems to be capable of procreation, which is an odd feature to include in a remote-operated bioroid – unless he and Neytiri have adopted all these kids. Ol’ mate Jim Cameron is definitely exploring Pandora’s oceans in this one, which bodes well – see The Abyss for supporting evidence. And although the overwhelming number of kids running around may give off Caravan of Courage vibes, remember that the prominent presence of a child co-star didn’t hurt Terminator 2 at all.
Avatar 2 hits in 2020.
