Venerable actor, Sigourney Weaver, teases her "goofy" character in the highly-anticipated Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. Released in 2009, Avatar took the world by storm and became the highest-grossing film of all-time with over $2.8 billion at the box office. The film starred Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, head of the Avatar program on the planet Pandora, an exobiologist who formed a close bond with the local race of intelligent alien creatures known as the Na'vi. In a greedy act by the Resources Development Administration, the military attacks the Na'vi to access a rare and immensely valuable mineral called unobtainium leading to Augustine's death. However, Weaver is set to return to the world of Avatar in the sequel as a completely new character.
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Set over a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water will focus on former disabled ex-Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his Na'vi partner Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family in a new tale of survival and tragedy. Weaver returns to the franchise as Jake and Neytiri's adoptive daughter, Kiri. However, details regarding Kiri have been kept under wraps.
Speaking with Interview, Weaver teased her "goofy" new character in the upcoming Avatar: The Way of the Water. The actor shared that she could not reveal much about who she is but called the role "the biggest stretch" she every had to play. Weaver explained that she had to physically approach Kiri differently than other roles in her career. Read what the actor said below.
"So Avatar I can’t really talk about, but I would say that it’s the biggest stretch I get to play in every possible way. I think if Jim Cameron didn’t know me really well, he wouldn’t have cast me as something as goofy as this. I had to work in a completely different way to play this character, a very physical way."
In the first Avatar film, Weaver played Augustine, a character that was close to the actor's actual age of 60 at the time. Now in her 70s, Weaver is portraying a character in their teenage years, a role that likely demands a substantial amount of physicality. Couple that with a personality that Weaver describes as "goofy," then the part becomes quite challenging, but seemingly immensely rewarding for Weaver. In the interview, the actor also detailed that she has a significant amount of physical exercise to endure, such as "burpees" and "parkour," as well as learning how to free dive for the role, eventually allowing Weaver to hold her breath for over six minutes.
With little revealed regarding Kiri, early promotional material for Avatar: Way of the Water revealed the character reviewing archive footage of Augustine on a computer monitor. Although no details were given as to the purpose of the scene, Kiri may find herself intrigued with Augustine's nature. Perhaps Eywa, the Na'vi deity who saved Sully's life and accepted Augustine's soul, injected some part of Augustine in Kiri in a form of reincarnation. Despite Kiri's possible connection to Augustine, Weaver was clearly delighted to return to the Avatar universe and play such a physical role in Avatar: The Way of Water.