According to a series of new photos, Jack Champion's Spider is set for a redesign in Avatar 3.
After striking gold back in 2009, James Cameron officially proved that Avatar is here to stay with his epic sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water.
The second Pandoran adventure spent a resounding seven weeks atop the domestic box office, still writing its name in the record books as it climbs the 'Biggest Box Office Movies of all Time" list (currently sitting at fourth).
But Cameron has made it clear he is not yet done. The director already filmed much of Avatar 3 and has had a "discussion [with the] folks at Disney" about finishing his five-film odyssey. So that means this colorful cast of characters is not yet done, and - as expected - some will come back for the threequel looking a little different.
Spider's Avatar 3 Redesign
A collection of photos from the Avatar: The Deep Dive special on Disney+ seemingly revealed a slight redesign coming to Jack Champion's Spider in Avatar 3.
The images show Avatar director James Cameron walking through some footage on a monitor, with a slightly different Spider standing next to him than the character fans were introduced to in The Way of Water.
The Champion's hero here has a little bit longer hair and looks to be tied up in a top knot, a look that was never seen in Avatar 2.
Spider's bracelet on his arm has become a little more streamlined, doing away with the hanging feather the adopted Sully originally had.
Though a little harder to tell, the markings on Spider's back seem to differ from those in The Way of Water.
Some fans have speculated that there is a Metkayina (the water tribe seen in Avatar 2) on his left arm, indicating his acceptance into the tribe. The note in particular, because the tattoo must mean that Spider is viewed as a Metkayina warrior by the time the threequel rolls around, meaning he has not only been accepted by Jake Sully and Netyiri's clan but Ronal and Tonowari as well.
What To Expect in Avatar 3
As Avatar: The Way of Water continues its extended run at theaters, this is just another nugget to trickle out about the impending threequel.
Fans already know that Avatar 3 is going to focus on a conflict with the fire tribe of Pandora known as the “Ash people,” and that while the first two films showed the Na'vi in a “very negative” light and the Na’vi in a “very positive,” Avatar 3 “will do the opposite.”
But this is the first indication of just how much time will have elapsed between the second and third films.
Most of these changes made as a part of Spider's redesign look to be the result of the character aging and time passing. Audience members can and should expect the same sort of thing to happen to the other young characters as they go from being kids to young adults.
With Avatar 2 and 3 (and some of 4) having been largely filmed at the same time, these subtle visual changes to the actual character design are the only way to show time passing. As Jack Champion and the rest of the young cast were the same age while filming both blockbusters, this is all the crew could do to differentiate.
And audiences should expect even more of these adjustments as more comes out about the threequel and the following Avatar sequels.
Avatar 3 is set to hit theaters on December 20, 2024.
