20th Century Studios has released a new teaser poster for its upcoming Avatar sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, and it’s pretty breathtaking — or at least it certainly lets fans know that they better hold their breath because they are headed underwater.
Though the poster itself is fairly simple, simply showing the face of one of the Na’vi, the indigenous people of the world of Pandora, it very tellingly shows their hair floating in the background indicating that director James Cameron has returned to one of his favorite places to shoot: Underwater.
Although the first Avatar film took place mostly in the forests and skies of Pandora, initial looks at the long-awaited signal and of course the name of the film indicate that the planet’s oceans will play a major role in the next chapter of the Na’vi and of Jake Sully, the human protagonist of the first film that chose to transfer his mind to his Na’vi avatar permanently in order to remain with his mate Neytiri and become chief of the Omaticaya clan.
The story of the movie will follow the story of Sully and Neytiri and their family a full decade after the events of the first movie. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña will both return to reprise their original roles, as will CCH Pounder as Neytiri’s mother, and the Omaticaya spiritual leader, Mo’at.
New actors will include Cliff Curtis, and Kate Winslet as members of the Metkayina, a reef-dwelling clan of the Na’vi. Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald will reprise their roles as human members of the RDA Mining program and The Avatar Program. New human roles will be played by Micheel Yeoh, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, and Brendan Cowel.
Sigourney Weaver will appear in the film, though it has not been confirmed that she will reprise her role as Dr. Grace Augustine who perished in the first film. The main antagonist Colonel Miles Quaritch, played by actor Stephen Lang, also died in the first film but will nonetheless return in the upcoming sequel.
Avatar: The Way of the Water is scheduled to hit theaters on December 16.
