The Na’vi will travel to Earth in the Avatar sequels according to producer Jon Landau, as the storyline plays a big role in Neytiri’s Avatar 5 story.
James Cameron’s plans for the Avatar sequels include bringing the Na’vi to Earth in Avatar 5. Almost 13 years after the start of the franchise, the impending release of Avatar: The Way of Water marks the beginning of a massive plan for the future. James Cameron currently plans to make three more sequels, although the filmmaker has recently teased that sixth and seventh installments are also possible. As of now, Avatar 5 is positioned to be the end of the series. Since the movie is still several years away from happening and coming after more movies, there is understandably almost no information available about what Avatar 5‘s story includes.
During the promotional tour for Avatar: The Way of Water, producer Jon Landau spoke to io9 about the movie and the Avatar sequel plans. This included him dropping a curious tease about a change of scenery for Avatar 5. Landau seemingly revealed that part of the plan is for the Na’vi to travel to Earth to learn more about the planet that is at war with Pandora. He said that “in movie five there is a section of the story where we go to Earth. And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes, to what exists on Earth.” He went on to elaborate that the purpose of the Earth story is to explain to Neytiri that all humans are not bad, like the RDA.
Avatar 5’s Earth Storyline Would Be A Huge Change For The Franchise
The reveal that Avatar 5 includes a storyline set on Earth will mark a significant change for the franchise to this point. The original Avatar did not have any scenes set on Earth, but there were deleted scenes of Jake Sully on his home planet. The entire story taking place on Pandora allowed Avatar to fully immerse audiences in the new world that was largely created digitally. Avatar: The Way of Water is also expected to predominantly take place on Pandora, as the sequel will expand the scope to explore the underwater kingdoms that exist there.
It now appears that Avatar 5 will radically change the franchise’s setting by going to Earth, even if only for a short time. This could present new challenges for the production, as the Na’vi have never been seen on the screen outside of Pandora. The visual heights of Avatar: The Way of Water will only continue to get better by the time Avatar 5 is made, so making the giant blue aliens work on an Earth backdrop could be easier to accomplish by then. Still, there is a risk that the Avatar sequel’s Earth storyline will be too big of a shift visually for the franchise and viewers to handle.
The good news is that it appears Avatar 5‘s Earth storyline has a good reason to be included. It teases that the relations between the Na’vi and humans will not necessarily get better over the next several movies. Neytiri needing to learn that not everyone on Earth is bad could be a sign that she wants the Na’vi to go to war with Jake’s home planet and go on the offensive. That alone would speak to some giant leaps for the Na’vi, as there have been no signs they are capable of space travel. In any case, Avatar 5‘s first story tease is certainly unexpected.
Source: io9