The 13-year wait is finally over. James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” is now playing in theaters, and with it comes a question moviegoers will probably be asking themselves once the credits roll: What does the cast actually look like?
In the original “Avatar,” actors such as Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Joel David Moore all appeared on screen in their own bodies for significant amounts of screen time. That’s not the case with “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which, for most of its three-hour runtime, includes no human actors on-screen.
That’s not to say “Avatar: The Way of Water” is without its humans. Joel David Moore and Dileep Rao are back in brief roles as two scientists on Pandora who have allied themselves with the Na’vi. Brendan Cowell and Jemaine Clement are newcomers to the franchise, playing two central figures on a marine hunting vessel on Pandora. Also new are Edie Falco, playing the evil new army commander on Pandora, and Jack Champion as Spider, a teenager born on Pandora who has deep ties to Jake Sully’s Na’vi family.
The rest of the “Avatar: The Way of Water” main cast all appear as Na’vi courtesy of motion capture. See all of the faces behind the Na’vi characters in the cast breakdown below.
Sam Worthington as Jake Sully
Sam Worthington returns to the “Avatar” franchise as Jake Sully, who now lives permanently as a Na’vi after his consciousness was transplanted from his human body to his Na’vi avatar at the end of the original film. Jake is the leader of the Pandora forest tribe, known as the Omaticaya people.
“We started work on it in, I think, 2015 was when I first saw things of it and 2017 was when we first started. It’s been a gradual continued process, like a big journey,” Sam Worthington told Variety of making the “Avatar” sequel. “It’s a labor of love rather than making a movie. That’s what it feels like.”
Worthington added about the film’s extensive underwater scenes, “We were doing something that had never been done before. But James Cameron and I get along because I’m fearless. If he asks me to, I’m going to dive in. I’m good at putting aside all the mechanics and just focusing on ‘What does the boss need me to do?’”
Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri
Zoe Saldaña reprises her role of Neytiri, Jake Sully’s wife and one of the best warriors among the Omaticaya people. The actor managed to hold her breath underwater for five minutes while filming diving scenes. Saldaña told Variety that getting the chance to work with James Cameron is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration.
“I got to work with my idol at a very early stage of my career,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley, these iconic characters of the ’80s, where would I be? There are so many themes that will resonate with people, starting with the power of family… Family is not just the one that you’re born into, but it’s also the one that you choose or chooses you.”
