‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Will Showcase Jake Sully’s Drastic Character Shift After Neteyam’s Death

Jake Sully has been through a lot over the course of the first two Avatar movies. He started out as a former Marine who lost the use of his legs, then became part of the Na’vi through an avatar body, fell in love with Neytiri, and eventually became the father of a whole new Na’vi family.

But in Avatar: The Way of Water, things took a dark turn when he lost his oldest son, Neteyam, during a battle.

Now, in Avatar: Fire and Ash, things pick up just two weeks after that tragic loss. Jake and his family are still hurting, and the grief is very fresh. According to director James Cameron, “Everybody in this movie is reacting from a place of trauma. Everybody. Jake’s processing the death of his son. Lo’ak is processing the death of his brother and his own guilt around that.”

Sam Worthington, who plays Jake, says that the character has changed a lot since the last film. “The peacemaker that Jake was in 2 has changed, because he’s grieving. He doesn’t know how to go forward, and so he goes back to the world that he knows, which is soldiering. To attack, to go to war, that’s a comforting place for Jake.”

But this shift in Jake’s mindset is putting a lot of pressure on his relationship with Neytiri. Worthington adds, “Because of Neteyam’s death, there is now a division in that relationship. That’s a great design by Jim — how do you split apart the perfect love story? Jake and Neytiri share this painful wound, but they can’t seem to heal each other. So they kind of split, not because they want to, but because they’re just trying to survive within themselves. Jake heads back to battle and Neytiri kind of closes down.”

Cameron says that even with all the action and wild creatures in the Avatar world, it’s still the emotions and relationships that make the story work. “I think if you’re authentic about life and emotion and relationships, it doesn’t matter how crazy your world-building is,” he says. “I’m on a flying fish — but I believe that flying fish.”

In The Way of Water, Neteyam’s death happened after a major underwater battle between the Metkayina and the humans. During the fight, Neteyam managed to help rescue his siblings, but he was fatally shot.

After his death, Jake and Neytiri had to fight again to save their daughters from Colonel Quaritch. The film ended with Neteyam’s funeral and Jake deciding to leave the Metkayina tribe, though Chief Tonowari told them they were welcome to stay.

As Fire and Ash begins, Jake is no longer the peaceful father figure we saw before. With war approaching once again and a new Na’vi villain named Varang entering the picture, the story promises to be darker and more emotional than ever.

he movie is expected to dive deep into the characters’ pain and how they deal with grief while preparing for more conflict with the RDA. And with Jake turning back into a soldier, there’s no telling what this next chapter will bring.

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