James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” is now playing in theaters, bringing with it a third eye-popping trip to Pandora and dozens of impressive motion capture performances. You may not recognize the likes of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña and Kate Winslet when they’re rendered as blue Na’vi aliens on screen, but every movement and facial expression belongs to them.
As is the case with every “Avatar” theatrical release, Cameron and his cast have spent a significant amount of their press tour urging viewers to understand the amount of human effort that goes into the Na’vi performances. Nothing about the acting in the “Avatar” movies is fake, or as Cameron recently put it: “We don’t use [generative AI] on the ‘Avatar’ films. We honor and celebrate actors. We don’t replace actors.”
Zoe Saldaña, who plays Neytiri in the “Avatar” movies, told Beyond Noise earlier this year that performance capture “is the most empowering form of acting” because “it gives us the credit, the ability to own 100% of our performance on screen… Performance capture means that ‘Avatar’ wouldn’t exist if Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, myself and the entire cast didn’t get up and put those dots on our faces.”
So who are the humans behind all the Na’vi characters? Scroll below for a complete rundown of the “Avatar: Fire and Ash” cast.
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Sam Worthington as Jake Sully
Image Credit: Everett Collection Sam Worthington returns as Jake Sully, who must confront the grief pulling his family apart in order to protect them against Pandora’s human invaders and a new, more antagonistic tribe of Na’vi.
“My job in the performance capture, the acting part, that’s been the same. It’s just pure acting with another person,” Worthington recently told Variety about making “Avatar” movies for more than a decade. “The digital makeup is way more nuanced now. Every thought, every movement my body does when I’m truthful has been protected. “That was a promise Jim made me in the first movie — and he’s delivered on it. It’s incredible to watch because it is me, 100%.”
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Zoe Saldaña as Neytiri
Image Credit: Everett Collection Zoe Saldaña returns to the role of Neytiri. Following the death of her son Neteyam in “The Way of Water,” Neytiri finds herself consumed by grief and vengeful against the humans who killed him. This rage puts her at odds with Spider (Jack Champion), the human child who is the Sully’s adopted son.
The Oscar winner has called the performance capture technology used on the “Avatar” movies “the most empowering form of acting,” adding: “It gives us the credit, the ability to own 100 percent of our performance on screen… From the archery, the martial arts, the free diving, the scuba diving to the language [James] conceived out of thin air, to physically training with former gymnasts, circus performers, and acrobats so you can learn how to walk like an extraterrestrial human species… That’s all us, and a group of incredible stunt actors that make our characters feel bionic. God bless them. With the technology that Jim creates, he gives the artist the power of complete ownership.”
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Sigourney Weaver as Kiri
Image Credit: Everett Collection James Cameron’s “Aliens” icon Sigourney Weaver plays Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teenage daughter Kiri, who during “The Way of Water” appeared to possess powers connected to Pandora’s spiritual center Eywa. These powers and Kiri’s connection to Eywa are explored further in “Fire and Ash” and make her one of the most powerful characters in the franchise.
Weaver recently told Variety that “Avatar’s” environmentalism themes match her real-life interests, explaining: “I’m very involved with the oceans and the High Seas Treaty. The movie shows even more graphically what corporations and humans are willing to do to their fellow creatures. It’s so sad — but it educates you. These creatures are equal citizens of our world. You need to wake up… respect other species. This is not your world. You can’t just do whatever you want with it.”
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Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch
Stephen Lang’s Colonel Miles Quaritch is at the center of an existential crisis in “Fire and Ash” after discovering in the previous film that Spider is his biological son. Quaritch’s mission remains to imprison Jake Sully, but it gets increasingly complicated by the fact that Spider loves Jake and views him as his actual father. Spider is more or less one of the Sully children, which forces Quaritch to team up with Jake in order to protect them all.
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Oona Chaplin as Varang
Image Credit: Everett Collection Oona Chaplin is the major new addition to the “Avatar” franchise in “Fire and Ash” as Varang, the leader of a volcanic tribe of Na’vi. Varang’s people regularly run raids on other Na’vi tribes to secure resources after a volcano decimated their home and left them bitter at Eywa. As the franchise’s late producer Jon Landau once put it: “There are good humans and there are bad humans. It’s the same thing on the Na’vi side. Oftentimes, people don’t see themselves as bad. What is the root cause of how they evolve into what we perceive as bad? Maybe there are other factors there that we aren’t aware of.”
Chaplin praised the “Avatar” franchise back in 2018 when she was cast in the role and described it as “Trojan horse cinema” due to how Cameron uses big budget filmmaking “to explore things that he finds important…like our relationship with nature, our relationship with people, our relationship with ourselves and the spirit.”
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Britain Dalton as Lo’ak
Image Credit: Everett Collection Britain Dalton returns as Lo’ak, Jake and Neytiri’s second son whose relationship with his father is especially strained following the death of his older brother. Lo’ak is a hot head, with Dalton once telling press: “He’s a rebel, sort of a guy who gets in trouble and a screw-up in that way. He’s an outcast and he’s alone in the world.” But his brother’s death forces Lo’ak to mature amid serious growing pains.
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Trinity Bliss as Tuk
Image Credit: Everett Collection The Sully family’s youngest daughter is Tuk, played by Trinity Jo-Li Bliss. While she often needs to be protected by her older siblings amid various battles and chases, Tuk “does not see herself as the youngest” and “she’ll do anything to protect her family and Pandora,” Bliss once told Variety. Tuk’s courage factors into one of “Fire and Ash’s” most climactic moments.
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