Fans are eagerly awaiting to return to Pandora with James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire And Ash. Although many of the trailers have promoted more questions that only the film can answer, lead actress Zoe Saldaña was able to shed some light on what fans can expect from her character, Neytiri, in Fire and Ash. 

Neytiri already went through an emotional roller coaster in the previous installment, but all signs point to things only getting harder for her before they can get better in Fire and Ash. After being forced to leave her home as well as losing her eldest son in The Way Of Water, the trailers for the newest film in the series show her struggling with her grief and how to process it. But now Saldaña has gone even deeper into how much of an emotional struggle Neytiri is going through. 

“I mean, she’s a full-blown racist in Fire and Ash, and to a degree that Jake doesn’t really recognize her anymore, and she’s a stranger to herself, and she’s abandoned the will of Eywa in the sense that it’s like it’s a child,” she explained to MovieWeb. 

The child in question is Jack Champion’s Spider, the human son of the series antagonist, who was taken in by the Sully family. Although Neytiri’s husband and the rest of the family are accepting of him, she has never taken a liking to him whatsoever. 

Saldaña continued her comments, saying, “You have to take it in. This child doesn’t have a home, but every time she looks at that child, she’s just reminded of how triggered she is by it.” 

Going further, Screenrant noted that although their characters are at odds with each other, Saldaña had glowing comments about Champion’s performance. She said that Champion “so beautifully” delivered his performance, especially thanks to the lessons his character has learned through the films. 

Avatar: Fire And Ash hits theaters on December 19th.