Space Whale Payakan And His Space Ahab Mick Scoresby Are Both Returning For Avatar 3

With the latest news about "Avatar 3" rolling in, it seems as if James Cameron is on a mission to take the concept of space whales away from "Star Wars Rebels" creator Dave Filoni and carve out a special sci-fi niche of his very own. In the animated show "Rebels," the space whales, called purrgil, are literally whales that can travel through hyperspace. In "Avatar: The Way of Water," the whale-like tulkun are sea-faring creatures that happen to be on a distant planet. NOT the same thing. 

Still, the tulkun do share a spiritual connection with the Na'vi race, in a similar fashion as the connection that characters and creatures have through the force in "Star Wars." With the phenomenal success of "Avatar: The Way of Water," Cameron finally has his own version of "Star Wars" that will allow him and his incredible creative team to continue to build out and expand upon the moon world of Pandora. But they can also keep bringing back villains like Quaritch who died in the first film, only to become a Recombinant — a fully sentient human/Na'vi hybrid — to wreak havoc and instill hatred in future installments. 

For "Avatar 3," Cameron and producer Jon Landau are bringing back one of the most beloved characters from the sequel and one of the most reviled. Interestingly, one of them isn't human or Na'vi; and the other one barely qualifies as a human being at all. 

Payakan, the banished tulkun outsider and lovable companion of Jake and Neytiri's son Lo'ak, is set to return in Cameron's epic threequel for a little more revenge-thumping action — and a possible chance at redemption. Producer Jon Landau tells Empire that the fan-favorite mammal will be an even more dynamic presence in the next film. "We view Payakan as a character, not just as a creature. We will continue to explore his relationship with Lo'ak." 

The overbearingly smarmy space whaler Mick Scoresby (Brendan Cowell) will also return, unfortunately. After Payakan destroyed his hunting vessel, the SeaDragon, and ripped his arm off in the gripping finale, Scoresby is likely going to be even more hellbent on revenge, keeping the personal battles going on Pandora. Will he have a lab-grown Na'vi arm, perhaps? (Maybe his arm will be possessed like in that '90s movie "Body Parts" starring Jeff Fahey. But I digress.)

Thanks to his feral but loyal son, Spider, Quaritch is still alive, and will likely team up with Scoresby and Edie Falco's General Ardmore to launch a brutal offensive. "'Way Of Water' was Quaritch's vendetta but Ardmore's, or the RDA's, goals have not changed," warns Landau, confirming that the greedy corporation RDA (Resources Development Administration) has no plans of letting up. Planet Earth's resources are drying up fast, creating an even greater and more desperate need to tame the Na'vi and take over the Pandora moon. 

The fate of humanity probably won't be decided in "Avatar 3," but at least we know what side we'll be on when "Avatar 3" is released on December 20th, 2024.