Zoe Saldana feels “artistically stuck” by big franchises

Zoe Saldaña burst onto the scene in 2009 after playing Neytiri in Avatar, the highest-grossing movie ever made, and Uhura in Star Trek. A few years later, she landed the part of Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whom she played in the second highest-grossing movie of all time, Avengers: Endgame. It doesn’t get much bigger than that.

Landing a role in any big franchise, whether it’s Star Trek or Marvel, is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s regular work, the money can be great, and it gets your name out there. But studios also tend to lock you into long-term contracts, which can leave little time to pursue other projects.

“I feel that for the last 10 years of my life, I’ve been just stuck. I felt stuck doing these franchises,” Saldaña told Women’s Wear Daily. “I’m very grateful for the opportunities that they provided, from collaborating with amazing directors and getting to meet cast members that I consider friends and getting to play a role that fans, especially children, love. But it also meant that I felt artistically stuck in my craft of not being able to expand or grow or challenge myself by playing different sorts of genres and different roles.”

And Saldaña won’t be free of franchises anytime soon. There’s an Avatar sequel coming this month, and probably more after that. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 premieres next year. A fourth Star Trek movie is also in development.

Zoe Saldaña talks about returning to Pandora in Avatar: The Way of Water

From Aliens to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, James Cameron’s track record with sequels is pretty spectacular. That means there’s a lot of pressure on the new Avatar movie. According to Saldaña, Avatar: The Way of Water will reinvigorate the franchise. “The reintroduction is also the refreshing of it. The rejuvenation of it is also very exciting.”

"Look, I’m not aiming to get the same results that we got in the first one because that was a surprise. That was a wonderful surprise. We were not expecting it. And the reception was just imaginably beautiful. Obviously I’m hoping for Avatar 2: The Way of Water to have a very beautiful impact on people. But it’s not for the sake of breaking any records or making a ton of money. I think this saga is special. It was made with a lot of love and a lot of work. And it’s an experience worth having."

Will Avatar strike gold again? Do people still care? We’ll find out when Avatar: The Way of Water premieres on December 16.

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