James Cameron talks about how much he wanted the loss of the Sullys’ eldest son to impact the sequel.

How Avatar: Fire and Ash grapples with the death of Neteyam: ‘Real human tragedy changes people’

James Cameron talks about how much he wanted the loss of the Sullys' eldest son to impact the sequel.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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December 19, 2025 3:00 p.m. ET

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Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) stands by his mother Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) in 'Avatar: The Way of Water'. Credit:

20th Century Studios

**This article contains spoilers from *Avatar: Fire and Ash*. **

Na'vi, much like the Goonies, never say die. Though their loved ones all leave Pandora at some point, their souls linger on. The same goes for Neteyam.

Jamie Flatters, who plays the eldest son of Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), returns to *Avatar: Fire and Ash* (now playing in theaters). While his character died during the climactic ocean battle against the RDA in the previous film, 2022's *Avatar: The Way of Water*, his siblings and parents can access him anytime they connect to their god, Eywa.

The loss of Neteyam, however, casts an overbearing pall across the main figures of this new story. The opening scene sees Lo'ak (Britain Dalton) flying through the sky with his late brother in an Eywa dreamscape, though he feels responsible for Neteyam's death. Elsewhere, Neytiri still dons her ceremonial mourning face paint, while Jake has become overly protective of his family and ignores his own grief.

Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Jake (Sam Worthington) in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'.

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Writer-director James Cameron explains how much he wanted the loss of Neteyam to play into the events of *Avatar: Fire and Ash*.

"This is a question in commercial filmmaking," he tells **. "If we think about our superhero characters, we don't want them to be changed permanently because we like them. You can bring any foe, bring any challenge, but they have to emerge from it as they were before...But real human tragedy changes people, changes them irrevocably. So you're not gonna see that in commercial filmmaking that much."

*Avatar* often gets lumped into that brand of studio film, Cameron acknowledges, but he also wanted to ground the story in the human experience. "I'm responding to that period of my life as a father of five kids who were going through their teenage years, finding themselves: identity, anxiety, depression, all the things that kids are facing now, probably more than ever before," the filmmaker continues. "So I'm just working out my stuff so that it felt natural to be real about the characters as if this was just a straight drama taking place in Philadelphia."**

Varang (Oona Chaplin) in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'.

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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It's during this time of immense grief and guilt that the Sullys, and all the Na'vi of Pandora, face their potential annihilation. Jake is still on the RDA's most-wanted list as the militia continues colonizing the planet to make it habitable for humankind. Quaritch (Stephen Lang) still hunts the Sullys across different biomes, but now there's the Ash People to contend with.

This violent, volcanic Na'vi clan is led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), who's determined to spread her fire (both her proverbial hate and actual flames) to the rest of Pandora. The loss of her people and loved ones during a catastrophic natural disaster that occurred years earlier has warped her into a sinister force — and the same threatens to happen to Neytiri over the loss of her son.

"If we enter it through the eyes of complex human emotion, then it doesn't matter how fantastic the imagery is. We always have a centeredness in it," Cameron adds. "We have families, we have loss, we have family conflicts, we have the strengthening bonds of a family that help us. It's our fortress, it's our downfall, it's the thing that's the biggest pain in the ass. Whatever family means to everybody around the world, this film is gonna explore that."

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Source: “EW Sci-Fi”