Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Avatar: Fire and Ash.James Cameron explains how Jake Sully's position on weapons and the ways of the Na'vi changed in the script for Avatar: Fire and Ash. After trying to step away from the conflict to protect his family, Jake realizes during Avatar: The Way of Water's ending that he and the Na'vi need to stand and fight against their enemies.
Beyond these important story details, Cameron explained while speaking to TheWrap that he "learned from the audience response to Way of Water." This led to writing new scenes for Fire and Ash, removing some from the script, and that he "called the actors back, and we adjusted kind of on the fly."
Changing the story of Payakan, the outcast Tulkun that Jake's son, Lo'ak, bonds with, was one of the story changes that occurred. Check out Cameron's comments below:
There was such a strong emotional response to Payakan as a character that I had to build up his part in movie three. If any breakout star emerges from a movie, you’d build up that part in the subsequent film.
Along with expanding on the story of Payakan, Cameron made a change to have Jake arm the Metkayina, Avatar's water tribe that he and his family sought refuge with and joined during The Way of Water.
In the original script, he asked the question three times, they finally answer in the affirmative, because they’ve got to defend the Tulkun [the whales]. And I thought it was important to say, "All right, you could be a pacifist, but at some point, there are things that are worth fighting for.”
A certain point, it just hit me, if that’s what Quaritch is doing, and it’s right out of the colonial playbook – we’re going to give guns to the Native Americans and let them kill each other. If that’s the definition of evil in the film, Jake can’t do that. He’s got to let them fight the Na’vi way. And I think we can see in the battle scene, when you start dropping rocks through the rotors of the ships, the Na’vi way works pretty damn well.
Cameron decided to remove a scene of Jake arming the Metkayina with guns. It was replaced with a scene of Jake reuniting with Toruk, the winged creature he bonded with and rode in the first movie, and that made him the great Toruk Makto in the first place. Cameron clarifies that this reunion "was an adjustment on the fly."
Historical precedent and the in-universe values of the Na'vi weren't the only factors that contributed to these changes. The 2022 shooting in Uvalde, Texas where 19 elementary school students were killed put Cameron "over the edge."
I did not want to glorify or fetishize the assault weapon. Now I’m a little bit trapped, because I got a character who defines himself as a Marine. And the Marines ethos is a Marine and his rifle are the most powerful weapon in the world. That’s how they how they think. And so I thought, "All right, I’m going to keep it singular to Jake and his way of doing things, but I’m not going to let him contaminate the Na’vi way, and their value system." These are things that were fluid going along.
This is a similar sentiment to what Cameron shared with Esquire in 2022, where he spoke about regretting some of the movies he previously made, including the early Terminator films, and how they glorify gun violence.
When it came to making these changes in Fire and Ash, Cameron shares that the cast was not fazed and they even embraced the adjustments.
The actors all bought into these ideas. They loved it. It’s like, "Sure, we’ll get back together.”
As indicated by the 67% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, Avatar: Fire and Ash's reviews have been more mixed than the previous installments. However, the audience score is 91%, an overwhelmingly positive response to the creative decisions made in the third film, including the third act, which critics are more divided on.
With two more Avatar movies planned, the fight for Pandora is far from over. Avatar: Fire and Ash takes a clear stance on the kinds of weapons Jake and the Na'vi will and will not use in their fight against their enemies, and given Cameron's strong feelings on the matter, this stance will likely be upheld in the upcoming sequels.
