Avatar star and sci-fi pioneerSigourney Weaverhas been discussing her surprising role in the upcoming sequel,Avatar: The Way of Water, with a new image possibly offering further clues regarding her Na’vi character. Speaking withEW, Weaver described her role inAvatar: The Way of Water, which finds the 72-year-old actress starring as the adopted teenage daughter of Jake and Neytiri, as the “biggest stretch” she has ever undergone as a performer.
“So Avatar I can’t really talk about, but I would say that it’s the biggest stretch I get to play in every possible way. I think if Jim Cameron didn’t know me really well, he wouldn’t have cast me as something as goofy as this. I had to work in a completely different way to play this character, a very physical way.”
Weaver felt an instant understanding for the character, with the actress herself having experienced her own award adolescence as a nearly six-foot-tall 11-year-old. “I was 5’ 10” or 5’ 11” when I was 11,” Weaver has said previously. Thus, she “felt strongly that Kiri would feel awkward a lot of the time,” Weaver added. “She’s searching for who she is. I was thrilled to be given that challenge by Jim.”
The actress offered details of the training that was required for the role,which included “a lot of parkour. We had to do burpees. We had to do freediving.”
Sigourney Weaver will play Kiri inAvatar: The Way of Water,the adoptive teenage daughter of our heroes Jake and Neytiri. Since this revelation, several theories have since emerged positing that Kiri is in fact the reincarnation of Dr. Grace Augustine, Weaver’s character from the firstAvatar, who has been resurrected by Eywa. While this is still just a theory, a new image from the sequel has teased that there could be some truth to it…
Is Kiri a Reincarnated Grace Augustine?
This latest image fromAvatar: The Way of Watercould finally be confirmed that Kiri is indeed the reincarnated Grace Augustine, the human character played by Weaver inAvatarand who takes the side of the Na’vi before dying during the conflict. The image finds Kiri and Grace in the same shot, with the former seemingly looking at a video recording of the latter. Could this be when she realizes who she once was?
While we wait and see whether Kiri and Grace are indeed connected (they have to be, right?) we do know thatAvatar: The Way of Waterwill introduce audiences to Jake and Neytiri’s new family. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Directed byJames Cameron,Avatar: The Way of Waterstars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris due for release on June 12, 2025.
