Why isn’t Michelle Rodriguez in Avatar: The Way of Water? Read what the star said

On June 7, 2023, Avatar: The Way of Water was released on Disney Plus Hotstar for viewers based in India. Since then, the film has been trending on social media handles owing to various fan theories. While some are curious to know how the movie can be viewed, a few die-hard fans are wondering why actor Michelle Rodriguez wasn’t retained in the second part of the series.

Before we spill details about the film, let us tell you that Avatar: The Way of Water can be watched on Disney+ or Max/HBO Max subscription. It is also available on Disney Plus Hotstar in India. The film lasts for about 3 hours and 12 minutes only.

The series is spread across four parts. The first part of the series was released in 2009. The second part, The Way of Water, was released theatrically last year and is now available on OTT platforms. The third and fourth part are yet to be released.

If you have just finished watching the second part of the film, you may feel curious about the absence of actor Michelle Rodriguez in the film. Here’s the answer.

In an interview to Vanity Fair recently, the actor says, “I was thinking, ‘What if Michelle came back? A lot of the other characters came back. Then, I felt, ‘You can’t do that – I died as a martyr.’ I came back to Resident Evil. I wasn’t supposed to. I came back to Machete. I wasn’t supposed to. I came back with Letty. I wasn’t supposed to. We can’t do a fourth, that would be overkill.”

In the 2009 movie, Rodriguez played Trudy Chacón, a combat pilot working for the Resources Development Administration.  The story is set in the year 2154 – a time when the natural resources of the Earth depleted more than the expected rate. Observing this, the Resources Development Administration (RDA) mines the valuable mineral unobtanium on Pandora, a moon in the Alpha Centauri star system in a hope to safeguard humans on the planet.