Avatar: The Way of Water sees some main characters returning from the first film, but there’s also a whole family’s worth of new names and faces. Here’s a cheat sheet to help you figure out who’s who and what’s what in the second film in director James Cameron’s Avatar series.
The former American Marine was the protagonist of Avatar (2009) and he holds on to that role in Avatar: The Way of Water. Fourteen years later, he’s an honorary Na’vi as well as a husband and father. Much of the new film is about Jake grappling with the challenges of fatherhood as he tries to figure out how to raise his two teenaged sons, Neteyam and Lo’ak. The Jake we see in the sequel is far more calm and careful than the impulsive and brash jarhead of the first film. This time around, his priority is protecting his family and he will do whatever it takes to make sure they’re safe from danger.
Colonel Miles Quaritch was very definitively dead at the end of Avatar, but thanks to the wonders of medical technology, his consciousness is fed into a Na’vi avatar. Quaritch remains a classic villain as he tears through Pandora and her people in his hunt for Jake Sully. One of the more interesting parallels between the two films is to see the difference between how Jake adapted to his Na’vi avatar and the way Miles effectively retains his personality and doesn’t seem to have any Na’vi aspects to him.
The Na’vi princess has a lot less to do in Avatar: The Way of Water, which focuses on Jake and their children. She remains a formidable hunter and although she remains at Jake’s side throughout the sequel, she strongly disagrees with the way he’s tackling the problem of being Quaritch’s target. Neytiri is faced with heartbreaking choices and moments in Avatar: The Way of the Water, not the least of which is being forced to leave the forest that has been her ancestral home. While Jake wants to lie low, Neytiri is convinced that the only way to conclusively deal with Quaritch is to have a confrontation with him.
One of the joys of having computer-generated characters is that we get to hear Sigourney Weaver’s voice acting as the teenaged Kiri. No one knows how Dr. Grace Augustine became pregnant — and we’re convinced that there’s something just a little bit creepy about her avatar just floating around in its humongous canister — but Kiri is Grace’s miracle baby. Jake and Sully adopt her as one of their own. Kiri is curious about who her father was and Avatar: The Way of Water drops multiple hints that Kiri shares a special connection with the Na’vi goddess, Eywa. Kiri is also close to Spider (see below) and that relationship seems to have ‘heartbreak’ written all over it.
Jake and Neytiri’s eldest son is pretty much the perfect son. He’s a good warrior, he’s a better brother and he seems to be a natural leader. In one of his first scenes, you see Neytiri as a boy, going fishing with his father and the memory of that scene is used to excellent effect towards the end of the film.
He’s the problem child of the Sully brood and the teenage rebel. Curious, brave and independent-spirited, Lo’ak is a middle child who wants to be noticed by his father. From early on, we see him disobeying his father’s orders and getting scolded for doing so. When the Sullys turn to the oceanic Metkayina clan for refuge, Lo’ak discovers more than one unexpected spiritual connection. Some of his scenes with marine life are reminiscent of a young Jake discovering the creatures of Pandora in Avatar. Britain Dalton is definitely an actor you want to look out for because he makes Lo’ak stand out in the crowd of Na’vi youngsters in Avatar: The Way of Water.
She’s the youngest of the Sully kids. Looking out for Tuk is a full-time job because the little Na’vi is energetic, curious and swears by the family motto of “Sullys stick together”. Tuk lives up to the stereotype of the youngest kid who has very little to do beyond looking cute and unwittingly causing trouble. However, since director James Cameron does have three more films planned, chances are she’ll be playing a bigger role as Tuk grows up.
Spider was a human child who remained with the select group of humans who were allowed to remain on Pandora at the end of Avatar. He speaks Na’vi fluently, knows the traditional ways and has deep love for the people of Pandora. Raised with the Sully kids, Spider is practically family even though Neytiri says early on in Avatar: The Way of Water that she thinks he should grow up with his own people. Spider and Kiri are particularly close. Spider finds out a lot more about himself, his parentage and humans in the new film. He’s definitely going to play a big part in the upcoming Avatar films so keep an eye out for him.
Ronal is the tsahik, or spiritual leader, of the oceanic Metkayina clan. Proud, strict, traditional and difficult to impress, she is not convinced that the Metkayina should help the Sullys. While she doesn’t say anything in obvious terms, she seems to be one of those Na’vi who is distrustful of Jake because he’s a hybrid. In Avatar: The Way of Water, Ronal is pregnant.
The leader of the Metkayina clan, Tonowari is known for his loyalty and for being a great warrior. He’s a friend of Jake Sully’s and stands up for him whenever anyone disrespects Jake. When the Sullys arrive, Tonowari shows he is welcoming the newcomers by assigning his son and daughter to teach the Sully kids the way of water. Tonowari has face tattoos that seem to be inspired by Polynesian tattoo patterns.
He has a blink-and-miss-it role, but fans of Flight of the Conchords will be happy to see Clement playing a bemused scientist in Avatar: The Way of Water. At one point, Quaritch teams up with a crew that does the Pandora equivalent of whaling. Clement’s Dr. Garvin is the science man of the expedition. He doesn’t look particularly happy to be part of this trigger-happy crew, but he knows everything there is to know about tulkun, a whale-like species who are hunted by humans because they have a precious chemical called “amrita” in their skull.