Avatar 2: Zoe Saldaña talks about her humbling trip back to Pandora

Many people are excited to return to James Cameron’s Pandora later this year when Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters. Avatar 2 star Zoe Saldaña recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the “humbling” experience of slipping back into the blue catsuit and how it felt like returning home in more ways than one. While talking with EW, Saldaña described the process of making Avatar: The Way of Water as “exciting and nerve-wracking.” However, she says it was “humbling as well. You know, the wait is finally over. And we get to share something that we love so much with so many people that we know love it.”

Saldaña plays Neytiri in the Avatar franchise, a native Na’vi living in Pandora. According to James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water is expected to “push the limits of the big screen” by utilizing “3D, with high dynamic range, high frame rate, higher resolution, and a much greater reality in our visual effects.”

Like many Avatar 2 co-stars, Saldaña underwent a significant transformation to play Neytiri. Thankfully, Saldaña is used to extreme methods of special effects movie-making after playing Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the process of becoming Neytiri is quite different, says Saldaña.

“They demand a different kind of sacrifice, but they stand very unique on their own subjective grounds,” she explains. “Gamora is a much more traditional approach where you wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning, and you go through the whole prosthetic process. And then kind of once you see yourself and you feel Gamora on you, obviously, you transform, you know?”

She continues, “And when it comes to Neytiri, it’s more of a practice. It’s months of training, not just rehearsing with your director, but training with movement coaches, traveling to the jungle, and getting to feel what it’s like to make your own food with all the elements that are around you. And once you use all of that, you do bring it into what we call the volume, which is the set, when you shoot under performance-capture.”

Folks who attend screenings of Marvel Studios‘ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness this weekend will be treated to a first look teaser for Avatar: The Way of Water. From what I’ve heard, the footage is jaw-dropping in ways no one can anticipate. I certainly hope the 13-year wait has been worth it for Avatar fans because Cameron’s upcoming film has a lot to live up to after so much time.

Avatar: The Way of Water opens exclusively in theaters on December 16, 2022.