Although not as many anticipated, Sigourney Weaver is officially returning for Avatar: The Way of Water. Sigourney Weaver portrays Dr. Grace Augustine in the first Avatar. Dr. Augustine joined the Avatar Program and worked to bring together the Omaticaya clan and humankind. In Avatar, Dr. Grace perishes, but Sigourney Weaver’s character in Avatar 2 is someone entirely different, avoiding one of the most significant issues with the follow-up.
The much anticipated and ambitious Avatar: The Way of Water is the follow-up to the hugely successful first Avatar movie, which is now the highest-grossing film of all time. The protagonists Jake Sully and Neytiri, as well as the evil Colonel Quaritch, are returning in Avatar 2, even though the film series primarily centers on the extraterrestrial Na’vi and their planet Pandora. Since Sigourney Weaver was one of the most well-known performers in the first Avatar, her reappearance is not unexpected. But the current turn the movie is going with her character is somewhat puzzling.
Dr. Grace won’t be played by Sigourney Weaver in Avatar: The Way of Water because she passed away after the first movie. Instead, the 72-year-old actress will portray Kiri, a young Na’vi who is one of Jake and Neytiri’s adoptive children. Although this modification is surprising, it aids in Avatar 2 avoiding a significant sequel issue. In Avatar 2, Colonel Quaritch, who perished in the previous movie after receiving two arrows to the chest, returns in an Avatar body. When Quaritch returns, the stakes of the first movie are already lowered, and if Dr. Grace had also been born, death in the series may have seemed entirely pointless.
However, since Sigourney Weaver is portraying a new character, it implies that major people can genuinely continue to be dead, which ups the suspense and prompts viewers to wonder if characters like Jake or Neytiri could perish. It might have been possible for Sigourney to return as Dr. Grace in one of the sequels before the Avatar 5 film had she not made any appearances in Avatar 2. Dr. Grace has indeed passed away since Sigourney Weaver is back and portraying someone else.
Although Sigourney Weaver played a significant role in the original Avatar, it often seemed she was only there to add some star power to the (at the time) mostly unknown ensemble. Though her role as Kiri in Avatar 2 may be even more fascinating than her one in the first film. Since Sigourney Weaver is portraying a teenage Na’vi, her character could be more involved in the action than Dr. Grace was in the previous movie. Since Sigourney’s role in the previous movie was quite uninteresting and portraying someone much younger is a greater challenge, playing a youthful character also offers the opportunity for an even stronger performance.
The emotion Sigourney Weaver’s character will bring to the movie in Avatar 2 is, nevertheless, its strongest feature. Kiri will very certainly be related to Dr. Grace in some way; otherwise, bringing the actress back wouldn’t make sense. The parallels between Kiri and Grace will add a layer of emotion, causing Jake to think about his lost companion, whether she was created from Dr. Grace’s DNA or has some of her memories. Everyone will remember Dr. Grace’s legacy and death even if Sigourney Weaver is portraying a new character, therefore having her dead helps Avatar: The Way of Water avoid this significant issue.
