Following our recent first look at Kate Winslet's Ronal, Empire Magazine (via SFF Gazette) has shared the subscribers cover for their latest issue along with a new still from James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water, and they come with a surprising reveal relating to the new character played by Sigourney Weaver!
When it was first announced that the Alien icon would be returning for this sequel, fans generally assumed that she would either be playing the late Grace Augustine via flashback, or that the good doctor's consciousness would somehow be resurrected in a new body.
Well, as it turns out, Weaver is actually playing a brand-new character: Jake and Neytiri’s adoptive teenage daughter, Kiri!
“I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents,” Weaver tells Empire about being enlisted to play a much younger character. “I certainly do. I was 5’ 10” or 5’ 11” when I was 11. I felt strongly that Kiri would feel awkward a lot of the time. She’s searching for who she is. I was thrilled to be given that challenge by Jim.”
“As an acting challenge, it’s big,” adds Cameron. “We’re gonna have a 60-something actor playing a character [decades younger than] her actual biological age. Sig thought it was all kinds of fun.”
Get your first look at Kiri via Empire's latest subscriber-only cover and a new image below.
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure. Directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and Kate Winslet.
Avatar: The Way of Water is set to hit theaters in December 16th, 2022.