Avatar: The Way of Water's Sam Worthington on returning to the franchise a decade on

Virgin Radio

7 Dec 2022, 12:20

The Na'vi are back in the long-awaited sequel to 2009’s Avatar, and for its leading star Sam Worthington, revisiting his character over a decade later was worth the wait. 

The actor plays Jake Sully in the follow-up film opposite Zoe Saldana, who plays partner Neytiri, and the two, who now have children, have to battle to save their young family, and their tribe, from danger. 

When it comes to returning as Jake for the 2022 sequel all these years later, it seems Sam had a great time navigating the challenges that came with Jake becoming a father. 

While on the blue carpet for the world premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water on Tuesday (7th December), Sam told virginradio.co.uk and other press what it was like returning to play Jake after thirteen years away. 

“Jake’s changed,” Sam explained. “He's got kids, so he's still a fearless, reckless warrior, but now he's got a different responsibility and I think part of that is he becomes a bit of a pacifist, he can't be scared that his kids are gonna get hurt or they're going to emulate him and get hurt.

“He's also been with the Na'vi for a while so I wanted to make him a bit more feral.”

Avatar 2 introduces the Metkayina tribue, led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis), who start off as rivals before they realise they need to work together to stop mech-armed humans from destroying the planet.

On whether or not we could see more tribes as the sequels continue (three more to be exact), Sam admitted: “This saga keeps going, so we're just seeing a little bit of Pandora. I'm sure we might see more, and I'm sure the family is going to evolve to that. 

“That's the whole point. We're not out to make just carbon copies of the first film. We had to keep telling this saga that has come from James [Cameron’s] imagination and nothing else.”

Speaking of director James, he revealed some more exciting details about the three new films yet to come. 

He shared to virginradio.co.uk and other press: “Movie three is shot and we’re in post-production of that already,” he said. “I hope to be here again two years from now.”

And if you want more Avatar in your life for a good few years yet, then you’re in luck, as the filmmaker explained: “We’ve got a bit of movie four shot, the first third of the film, and that has to do with getting the kids done before they grow up too much. 

“Four is written and designed, and five is written and designed.”

Avatar: The Way of Water will hit UK cinemas on 16th December 2022.