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01st Jul 2022

Sigourney Weaver’s role in Avatar 2 branded ‘unique’ after her death in first film

Kieran Galpin

Sigourney Weaver

It’s definitely… different

While fans have long known that Sigourney Weaver would be involved in the second Avatar film, a new interview has revealed the character she will be playing.

Weaver’s character in the first film, Dr Grace Augustine, met a sad and timely end thanks to Stephen Lang’s Colonel Quaritch. But after seeing her name on the cast list, fans wondered whether Augustine would be brought back to life, no doubt through the planet’s mystical god Eywa.

But in a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Weaver cleared suspicions up alongside a single shot of her new character. The 72-year-old will play a teenage Na’vi named Kiri, who will be adopted by Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).

“I think we all pretty much remember what we were feeling as adolescents,” Weaver told Empire. “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.”

Director James Cameron was also involved in the interview and confirmed: “As an acting challenge, it’s big.”

But if anyone can do it and do it well, it’s Weaver.

He continued: “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.”

“Sigourney just became younger. She looked younger, she had more energy, and she never quite stepped out of Kiri for our whole capture period. She had a glow on her face and lightness in her step and a fun spirit.”

Fans have taken to Twitter to share their delight, and one person wrote: “It’s unique, I’ll give them that.”

“This is the most absolutely unhinged and unpredictable plot decision Jim could have gone with. We love it,” another said.

Fans of the franchise have no doubt already seen plenty of set pictures, most of them underwater. Avatar: The Way of Water will be set in, you guessed it, water. Actors had to learn to hold their breath for six minutes and trained with elite military divers so they could spend longer filming beneath the waves.

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