Michelle Rodriguez had the opportunity to return as her character Captain Trudy Chacón in an Avatar sequel but she was tired of always being resurrected.
Per Variety, the actor admitted that franchise creator and director James Cameron approached her about returning but she ultimately turned him down. "Dude, when I saw Jim [Cameron] recently, he was like, 'I was thinking, what if Michelle came back? A lot of the other characters came back [in The Way of Water].'" I was like, 'You can’t do that—I died as a martyr,''" Rodriguez said. Beyond this moment, which played a key part in Avatar's narrative, the Fast and Furious star noted that coming back from the dead had become a cliched trope for her as an actor.
"I came back in Resident Evil, I wasn’t supposed to. I came back in Machete, I wasn’t supposed to. I came back with Letty, I wasn’t supposed to. We can’t do a fourth [time], that would be overkill!" Rodriguez elaborated. She concluded by stating that creative teams seem baffled at how to handle a female character that doesn't have any romantic connections. "'‘She doesn’t have a boyfriend. Should we keep her alive, or kill her?'" she said.
Rodriguez Trades Cars for Dragons
While Rodriguez is widely known for her starring role in the Fast and The Furious franchise, she's become a mainstay in genre cinema. Her most recent production sees her ditch firearms and instead take up a gigantic axe as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' barbarian Holga. Despite being known for generally playing badass characters, Rodriguez fully committed to her latest part. "I grew out all my armpit hair, so that's real – it's not glued on," she explained. "So I really felt the part, plus I gained a good 15 pounds of muscle. I'm still having a hard time losing that muscle. I've had to add a new size to my wardrobe."
Honor Among Thieves isn't Rodriguez's only 2023 blockbuster as she's also set to reprise her role as Letty Ortiz in Fast X, the next chapter in the long-running action series. The actor has been in the franchise since the very beginning with a starring part in 2001's The Fast and The Furious. Despite skipping the second and third movies, she reprised her role in Fast & Furious in 2009. "Thanks for bringing me back," she said. "If it wasn't for the fans I wouldn't be here," Rodriguez said, speaking about her twenty-year relationship with the franchise.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is now in theaters. Avatar: The Way of Water is now available on digital platforms.
Source: Variety