There is a fourteen-year time jump between Avatar and its sequel, The Way of Water. However, given the age of Kiri, Jake and Neytiri’s adopted teenage daughter, it is assumed that the film will begin with a flashback to explain the events between movies.
The trailers for The Way of Water seem to indicate a flashback sequence as there are shots that wouldn’t make sense in any other way in the linear storytelling that James Cameron is known to use with his films. So, let’s see what we can dig up, shall we?
Was Neytiri Pregnant With A Fourth Child?
So, in a couple of the trailers, we see Neytiri hunting, and she’s pregnant.
One popular theory is that Neytiri was pregnant with a fourth child but lost the baby. While it is possible, given a bit of an age gap between Lo’ak and Tuktirey, a flashback is more likely. Moreover, there is a bit to support this. There is a shot in the final trailer of the Sully family together (sans Spider), and Neytiri is holding a baby.
We See Newborn Tuk Is The Flashback And Neteyam Becomes Heir
Given that we see a younger Kiri, Lo’ak and Neteyam in this shot, it’s a newborn Tuk in Neytiri’s arms.
There’s also an image that dropped in the last couple of days of a ceremony, almost like a Na’vi version of a christening or a crowning ceremony, which appears to take place after Neteyam’s birth.
We know it’s Neteyam because Norm is standing directly behind Jake (in the ceremonial garb) in an exo-mask as his Avatar had been shot in the battle sometime before. This will take place about a year, maybe two years after the first film. Also, it lines up with a deleted scene from the first movie where Neytiri is seen as pregnant at the end.
It’s possible that Neteyam’s conception took place the night his parents mated.
The image of the ceremony is also the first and only image we have of Mo’at and Norm in the film. Unfortunately, we don’t know how much of a role they will play this time. They didn’t get character posters, so they’re likely minor cast this time.
It’s possible that between Neteyam’s birth and the film, Mo’at might have died. It’s possible that something similar could have happened to Norm too.
Pregnancy In Flashback Timeline
So, if we think about the images and what order they might go in, the image of Neytiri might be her first pregnancy and then it jumps to the ceremony for baby Neteyam. We think it might go this way because there’s another shot of Jake with a different style and a pre-teen Neteyam, perhaps the same age Tuk is.
At first, we thought the kid in the image was Tuk, but the child’s hairstyle gives it away that it’s Neteyam. Also, the boy has four fingers, not five, so it has to be Neteyam, as Lo’ak has five fingers.
What Else Could A Flashback Show?
As for what else a flashback sequence could detail, we can only guess:
- The human’s return to Earth (i.e. Selfridge).
- Lo’ak and Tuk’s births.
- How The Recoms came about + Quaritch and Wainfleet’s resurrections.
- Parker Selfridge’s return to Earth.
- Kiri’s birth.
- Neytiri gaining a new Ikran.
- Tributes to the fallen humans who fought for the Na’vi.
We’re choosing not to include things like the burial of Jake’s human body because it was covered in a comic series.
