Warning! Spoilers ahead for Avatar: The Way of Water.
A new piece of Avatar: The Way of Water concept art reveals an early design for the Metkayina clan’s reef village. Serving as a sequel to James Cameron’s hugely successful 2009 original movie, Avatar: The Way of Water sees the Sully family seek refuge with a new ocean-based clan of Na’vi, the Metkayina, when humans return to Pandora. The clan is led by Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) and Ronal (Kate Winslet), who eventually become strong allies to Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña).
Production designer Dylan Cole recently shared a piece of Avatar: The Way of Water concept art on Instagram, showing off a design of the Metkayina reef village from all the way back in 2014 when the sequel was in very early stages of development.
As is made clear by the image and Cole’s caption, the overall look and feel of the reef village would ultimately carry over into the final movie, even if a number of smaller aspects of the design did evolve. The concept art also speaks to just how much work is involved in bringing an Avatar movie to life, with Cameron and his talented team of creatives having to literally build every facet of Pandora from scratch.
Will The Metkayina Return In Avatar 3?
Avatar 3 was filmed concurrently with Avatar: The Way of Water, and the story for both movies was originally one massive tale that was later split into two. This would suggest that the upcoming third movie might be relatively closely related to the most recent sequel. Plus, both Winslet and Curtis ultimately didn’t get a ton of screen time in Avatar: The Way of Water, a sign that there could be more Tonowari and Ronal to come.
While Cameron has already confirmed that the next movie will introduce a new fire-centric clan of Na’vi called the Ash People, the ending to Avatar: The Way of Water hints that the Sully family will retain a strong connection to the Metkayina. After Netayam’s (Jamie Flatters) death and Quaritch’s (Stephen Lang) defeat, Tonowari declares that the Sullys have become true members of the Metkayina clan. The final shot of the film even features Jake affirming that he’s done running and that he will stay to defend his new home.
It seems very likely that the Metkayina will return in Avatar 3, but it’s less clear if they will return for the planned fourth and fifth movies in the franchise. With Cameron teasing that each new movie will explore new regions of Pandora and introduce new Na’vi clans, it’s unclear how much room there will be in the story for Tonowari, Ronal, and the rest of the Metkayina. If the Metkayina reef village is any indication, though, future films after Avatar: The Way of Water will feature many breathtaking, beautiful, and meticulously-crafted new locations.
Source: Dylan Cole