While Avatar: The Way of Water is only the second film in the franchise, James Cameron is already thinking ahead. One of the plans he has in mind for Avatar 5 is for the Na'vi, the alien inhabitants of Pandora, to finally visit Earth.Avatar: The Way of Water was released 13 years after the original Avatar, a fairly significant jump in time. Cameron, however, has stated that he has some pretty grand ideas for the franchise. He's previously alluded to having mapped out the franchise up to Avatar 7. Cameron has also revealed there have been cancelled scripts for Avatar sequels, one of which was titled Avatar: The High Ground. Producer Jon Landau let it slip to Gizmodo that the fifth Avatar film would feature Earth in a prominent role. He also seemingly revealed that Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) would be involved in the Earth-based plot, stating that it was important for her character development. "Well, it’s funny. I wasn’t going to talk about it, but I’ve now subsequently heard that Jim has talked about it a little bit. In movie five there is a section of the story where we go to Earth. And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes, to what exists on Earth," Landau said. "Earth is not just represented by the RDA. Just like you’re defined by the choices you make in life, not all humans are bad. Not all Na’vi are good. And that’s the case here on Earth. And we want to expose Neytiri to that."
Avatar: The Way of Water's production designer Ben Procter was asked by Variety for comment on this element of the film. After expressing shock that Landau revealed such information, he commented, "That's one of the most exciting elements of the entire saga." Procter further said that this element was one of the "most touching" and stated that Avatar's vision of Earth's future is one humanity will want to avoid, framing it as an ecological cautionary tale.
Cameron is well known for his ecological activism, so his bleak vision of the future is not shocking. The state of the Earth was hinted at in the first Avatar when Jake Sully mentions that humans "killed" the planet, and a deleted scene paints it as a bleak landscape. The RDA, or the Resources Development Administration, is implied to be keeping the Earth afloat, and Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang's character in the first Avatar) appears to be more concerned with Earth than with harming Pandora.
Avatar: The Way of Water reviews praised the sequel as 'beautiful,' and Procter echoes these sentiments in his comments. According to him, Avatar 5's plotline on Earth will tug at the heartstrings. It'll also evidently deal with Neytiri's trauma and prejudice against humans, who have continually invaded her homeworld.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters.
Source: Gizmodo, Variety/Twitter