Ahead of the film's release, James Cameron's long-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water dropped new footage and stunning new artwork at this year's D23 event.
The footage was screened behind closed doors at the event, but the artwork was released online shortly after, showcasing one of the many fantastical alien creatures swimming through The Way of Water, along with the vast underwater world of Pandora.
The cast of Avatar: The Way of Water attended D23 this year, including Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. According to outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter, the footage screened at D23 did not reveal anything about the plot or characters. Rather, the focus was on showcasing the amount of underwater filming that took place for the film.
The Creatures of Pandora
The new collections of Pandora's native fauna have been a point of focus for the Avatar sequel. Executive producer Jon Landau previously teased, "There are so many sea creatures that people will fall in love with here. The idea was to create a creature that was on the scale of Pandora. So a tulkun is, like, 300 feet long. They are a sentient species and as intelligent in their own way as the Na’vi are in theirs."
He also mentioned, "The ilu is the water equivalent of a direhorse. They are more playful than skimwings." Finally, skimwings are "like a giant flying fish but [it] keeps its tail in the water -- its tail is its propulsion. The Metkayina and all the reef people use them as their military mounts when they're going into combat. They can go 60 miles per hour for endless periods of time." This appears to be the creature featured in the recently released artwork.
Avatar: The Way of Water sees the return of Jake Sulley and Neytiri, who have begun a family. Weaver will be playing Kiri, the Na'vi pair's adoptive teenage daughter. The actor recently spoke on her experience playing a much younger character for the Avatar sequel, stating, "I would say that it’s the biggest stretch I get to play in every possible way. I think if [director James] Cameron didn’t know me really well, he wouldn’t have cast me as something as goofy as this."
Avatar: The Way of Water is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 16, 2022. The 4K restoration of the original Avatar film releases in theaters on Sept. 23.
Source: Twitter, THR