'The Avatar Sequels' Reveal The First Look At Jake And Neytiri's Kids [Updated]
Update: The young actors and their character names have now been revealed. Our original article follows, with the new info at the bottom of the piece.
Looks like Jake and Neytiri have been busy on Pandora. A new photo has surfaced from James Cameron's long-delayed Avatar 2 that gives us our first look at the child actors who portray the Na'vi children of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana's characters from the 2009 original, as well as some members of a separate Na'vi clan and lone human boy born on the moon's military complex. Check out the full photo and get a few more details below.
Before we get to the photo, one thing must be addressed: Entertainment Weekly says the Avatar sequels are officially called...wait for it...The Avatar Sequels. So how does that work? Is Avatar 2 going to be named The Avatar Sequels: 1 because it's the first of the sequels? Or are they really going to make us call it The Avatar Sequels: Avatar 2? Maybe each movie will get its own subtitle, but that remains to be seen. And remember, there are four total sequels on the way, so get used to that title because you'll be seeing it a lot over the next decade.
Here's the full image:
The site says the offspring of Jake and Neytiri will "play a crucial role" in the events of the follow-up movies, but weirdly, the site doesn't name any of the kids in the photo by name except for 12-year-old Jack Champion, the seated boy with brown shoes who plays Javier "Spider" Socorro, a human teenager who was born at Hell's Gate (the center of activity for humans in the first movie). [Update: Apparently EW's identification of Champion was incorrect. Get the real information below.] So we're left to wonder how many children Jake and Neytiri have and which actors shown here are playing them, as well as which of these kids are playing members of a different Na'vi clan called the Metkayina, "who dwell on giant oceanic atoll reefs under the rule of a leader named Tonowari (Cliff Curtis of Fear the Walking Dead)." And since these kids (Champion aside) will be seen as CG Na'vi characters, it's tough to make any reasonable guesses.
Executive producer Jon Landau explained their importance to the franchise, and promised that Cameron has something special in store:
"We never had this youthful element before, and that brings a different kind of energy to the film. They represent the future generation of Pandora and play a very significant role—not just in this movie but throughout all the movies...
People respond [to Avatar] because of the movie's characters, themes, and emotions—and we have all that again. When the cast read what Jim Cameron wrote, it hit them with even greater resonance than the first movie."
The Avatar Sequels: Avatar 2 (ugh, what a mouthful of a title) will arrive on December 18, 2020. Let's hope this group of young actors is half as memorable as the ones who portrayed the Losers' Club in It.Update: We've now received an official press release of our own that actually provides the names of these actors. Here's a new photo of them as well:
From left to right: Jack Champion (Javier "Spider" Socorro), Trinity Bliss (Tuktirey of the Sully Family), Bailey Bass (Tsireya of the Metkayina Clan), Jamie Flatters (Neteyam of the Sully Family), Britain Dalton (Lo'ak of the Sully Family), Filip Geljo (Aonung of the Metkayina Clan), and Duane Evans Jr (Rotxo of the Metkayina Clan).
Here are some slightly more detailed character descriptions and pronunciation guides:
The Sully Family
Jamie Flatters: Neteyam (neh-tay'-ahm), Jake and Neytiri's first born son.
Britain Dalton: Lo'ak (loh' ahk), Jake and Neytiri's second born son.
Trinity Bliss: Tuktirey: (took-tee'-ray), goes mostly by "Tuk" (rhymes with "nuke"). She is youngest of the Sully family.
Of the Metkayina Clan
Bailey Bass: Tsireya (see-ray'-ah), aka "Reya." She is a graceful and strong free-diver – the young Neytiri of the ocean.
Filip Geljo: Aonung (aw-nung'), a young male hunter/free-diver. Son of Olo'eyktan of Metkayina Clan.
Duane Evans Jr.: Rotxo (row'-txoh), a young male hunter/free-diver of the Metkayina.
Former Hell's Gate Adolescent
Jack Champion: Javier "Spider" Socorro, a human teenager born at Hell's Gate but prefers his time in the Pandoran rainforest more than the asphalt of Hell's Gate.