The Truth Is Out On Quaritch's Return In Avatar: The Way Of Water
*Contains spoilers from "Avatar: The Way of Water"*
We're weeks away from our return trip to Pandora, and there's still a shroud of secrecy over what will most likely be the loudest film of the year if the big boss of blockbusters, James Cameron, has anything to say about it. The trailers for "Avatar: The Way of Water" had many head-scratching moments throughout the build-up to the sequel — from a Na'vi child that sounds like Ellen Ripley to Jake riding a giant flying fish into battle. The biggest bit of befuddlement comes in the form of what is 100% Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang) in Avatar form and armed to the teeth. We suppose the only thing to say is, well, how?
Last we saw, that Na'vi-hating roughneck met his end in the first "Avatar" film 13 years ago with a low likelihood of making it out alive. So what did it take to bring him back from the brink and give him a brand new body to boot? Thankfully, Lang himself has cleared things up with the logical but equally wild explanation that sits perfectly in James Cameron's alien world. Doing so could also provide a new layer that revives a villain and places him in a very different light.
It's Quatrich Jim, but not as we know it in Avatar: The Way of Water
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Stephen Lang broke down how he got back to being the bad guy, only now with Smurf-like skin and a ponytail. It turns out that the Quatrich we're being reunited with isn't the one we left for dead. The only issue is Quatrich 2.0 doesn't actually know that.
"He's a genetically-engineered autonomous avatar. He has been downloaded with the mind, the emotions, and even more interestingly, possibly the spirit of Quaritch," Lang revealed. It's an exciting development that shows how far technology has come in this world since the last film. Given that Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) only ended up on his adventure after being the stand-in for his twin brother, who died before making the trip to Pandora, a version of Quatrich being revived (to a point) could set up some interesting questions in "The Way of Water."
Lang went on to say that this Quatrich "comes with a full memory bank up until the time he actually undergoes the DNA transfer. So there are certain things that he doesn't have any memory of at all. He has no memory of his death." How that might impact him when he learns the truth could lead Jake to face off with a far more dangerous Quatrich than before. We can see how big the fallout will be when "Avatar: The Way of Water" arrives in theaters on December 16.