Avatar 3 has a lot of opportunities to expand the franchise’s universe, and one of the best ways to do this is to bring back the wildest cut storyline from the original Avatar. Although the Avatar franchise is far from being grounded, the first movie originally introduced a storyline so weird that it ended up being cut from the film. However, this Avatar story would be perfect for the narrative of Avatar 3, meaning that the upcoming sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water really needs to bring it back.
2009’s Avatar was a huge success, with it becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time and launching a massive franchise that continued with 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. Now, the franchise is set to get a litany of sequels, with Avatar 3, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5 all expected to release by 2028. Not much is known about the story of Avatar 3, with it presumably continuing the conflict between the humans and the Na’vi that has been going strong since the original film. However, this story runs the risk of becoming repetitive, but the best way to expand on this would be to reintroduce Avatar‘s weirdest cut storyline.
James Cameron’s Cut Avatar Cloning Story Explained
James Cameron originally intended for an odd plot element to be introduced in 2009’s Avatar: cloning. Originally, the first Avatar movie featured a large scene on a dystopian Earth, introducing many of the film’s human characters before they traveled to Pandora. However, this Avatar Earth scene was cut due to it slowing down the pacing of the film. In the scene, a news broadcast can be seen that explains that the Beijing Zoo has successfully cloned a Bengal Tiger, which had previously gone extinct. Sadly, this clone storyline was a victim of Avatar‘s Earth scenes being cut – but it really needs to come back in Avatar 3.
Avatar’s Cut Cloning Storyline Should Return In Avatar 3
Bringing back Avatar‘s cut cloning storyline in Avatar 3 would be the perfect choice for the franchise. Avatar 3 runs the risk of becoming repetitive if it continues with the same basic human-Na’vi conflict that the first two movies have already explored. However, giving humans cloning abilities would shake things up, as it could allow the humans to have a seemingly endless army. Interestingly, it could also allow the humans to clone Na’vi and other Pandoran wildlife, giving them undercover soldiers that can infiltrate the Na’vi clans. Cloning technology is the exact warfare update that Avatar 3 needs to stay fresh.
On top of that, bringing cloning back makes perfect sense for the humans’ plans in Avatar 3. In Avatar: The Way of Water, it is revealed that the RDA is hunting the whale-like Tulkin, harvesting biological materials from their brain in order to make a Pandoran anti-aging drug. If Earth truly has animal cloning technology, the RDA should bring that to Pandora, as cloning the Tulkun would be a lot easier than having to hunt the animals down. Having an unlimited supply of the anti-aging drug would make Avatar‘s humans a much greater threat, further upping the stakes in Avatar 3.
Bringing Cloning To Pandora Could Change Avatar’s Franchise Future
Bringing cloning to the Avatar universe is incredibly exciting, as it would change the future of the Avatar franchise forever. Cloning would allow the Na’vi to repopulate the world of Pandora, potentially undoing any damage that the humans have done. However, it would also allow the humans and the dangerous Na’vi clans to suffer almost no losses, as they could always simply duplicate more troops. Cloning makes death in the Avatar universe a thing of the past, as characters, animals, and even objects like the Omatikaya clan’s sacred plants could always be brought back through technology.
Related: All 15 Na’vi Clans Explained (Cultures, Locations & Inspirations)
The return of cloning in Avatar 3 would also change the focus on the Avatar franchise. Since the technology was developed on Earth, reintroducing it would mean that Avatar 3 would probably focus more on the state of Earth. With the Na’vi traveling to Earth in Avatar 5, the franchise needs to start setting up the Earth storyline and introducing cloning in Avatar 3 would be the perfect way to start doing this. Cloning could also be a way that the Na’vi can save Earth, repopulating it of its flora and fauna and preventing any future human conflicts after Avatar 3.