Lo’ak will replace Jake Sully as the narrator in Avatar 3

The first Avatar movie came out way back in 2009, and went on to become the highest grossing movie in the history of cinema. It follows soldier Jake Sully as he joins the military on a mission to the moon of Pandora, eventually going native among the Na’vi aliens who live there. Fans had to wait over a decade for a follow-up, but it paid off; Avatar: The Way of Water has already cracked its way into the top 10 most successful movies of all time, and may break into the top 5 before long. Whatever people think of the movie, they’re watching.

And director James Cameron is busy synthesizing responses so he can make use of them in the four sequels Disney has planned for the budding Avatar franchise. Speaking on an episode of the Soundtracking with Edith Bowman podcast, Cameron let slip some details about what the next movie, Avatar 3, may bring:

"I’m going to take a moment when the dust clears to kind of assess what people loved and what they responded to the most in this current release, and I may go back and tinker a little bit, and we may go back and do a couple of moments here and there. It won’t be radical, but maybe fine-tune it a bit to emphasize that which people are responding to. For example, Lo’ak really emerged as a character that people went with, so I might find ways to sort of – now he’s already the narrator – oh, I’m giving away something here. But this is okay, I think it could be intriguing for people to think about what’s coming."

Lo’ak was a new character introduced in Avatar 2; he’s the second son of Jake Sully and his wife Neytiri. Jake provided narration for both the first and second films, but that will change starting with Movie Three. “[W]e have a different narrator for each of the subsequent films,” Cameron said. “We see it through the eyes of a different character.”

Will James Cameron’s critiques of Marvel movies come back to haunt him?

The Way of Water introduced a whole new cast, and it makes sense that Cameron would want to make use of them. It also makes sense that he would shift focus to younger characters like Lo’ak; who wants to watch a movie about 30 and 40-somethings when there are teenagers around?

I say that sarcastically, although this move does remind me of something that Cameron said about Marvel superhero movies, the only other franchise capable of competing with Avatar when it comes to box office bucks. “When I look at these big, spectacular films – I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC – it doesn’t matter how old the characters are, they all act like they’re in college,” he said back in October. “They have relationships, but they really don’t. They never hang up their spurs because of their kids. The things that really ground us and give us power, love, and a purpose? Those characters don’t experience it, and I think that’s not the way to make movies.”

When I read that, I assumed that meant The Way of Water would focus on the adult characters experiencing changes in their lives. And Jake and Neytiri’s lives did change. But they weren’t as much a focus as many fans were expecting. Instead, the spotlight went to their teenage children.

I can’t help but feel that Cameron let himself off on a technicality here. Sure, his adult characters grew up — they don’t “act like they’re in college” — but the story shifted to focus on the younger characters…who act like they’re in high school. And it sounds like that will continue going forward.

Clever trick Cameron pulled! Expect Avatar 3 out in December of 2024.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t Collider