Avatar: The Way of Water features many of the same themes as the first film. The first Avatar tackled imperialism and colonization, which heavily impacted Neytiri. At the end of the first Avatar movie, she and Jake Sully went on to have a romance, but Jake had adapted to the Na’vi way of life. Throughout the film, Neytiri displays a lot of skepticism and hostility toward humans, and there’s not any indication that she feels any different by the end. In fact, she actually has more reason to feel justified in her beliefs.
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In an interview with Deadline, Saldaña spoke about Neytiri’s arc in Avatar: The Way of Water. “She’s not done with her issues with sky people," Saldaña said. “You know, yeah, she married one, and she has babies with him, and she’s still struggling. I feel like that really gives way for Neytiri to have a full-fledged journey. From, you know, just all the feelings that she’s having since they’ve invaded her planet.”
With the return of characters such as Stephen Lang’s Colonel Quaritch, Neytiri faced off against humans once more in Avatar: The Way of Water. However, Neytiri’s journey is not complete by the end of the second film. Landau intimated that the fifth Avatar film will take place on Earth, where Neytiri will have to grapple with her feelings towards humans when she realizes not all of them are oppressive and powerful.
Cameron has previously justified Avatar: The Way of Water’s long runtime by pointing out that the sequel spends far more time on emotional beats and character development than the first film did. This included plenty of time focusing on Neytiri’s character arc.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters.
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Source: Deadline/Twitter
