A Scrapped Avatar: The Way Of Water Script Saw The Na'vi Have A Space Battle Off-Planet
Famously, production on "Avatar: The Way of Water," the sequel to James Cameron's 2010 blockbuster, "Avatar," was heavily delayed (via Polygon). This was because of the complex visual technology these movies are using, as well as the scripts needing more work and effort before they could be filmed. According to Entertainment Weekly, director James Cameron even formed a writers' room so multiple screenwriters could work on the "Avatar" films. Rick Jaffa explained, "The idea was six months in a writers' room, and that we were going to break down, beat by beat, three movies, which would describe a larger saga, but each movie would be distinct."
This much-involved storytelling meant that the writers had to learn everything about the Pandora universe, and they regularly played with potential plot elements and story beats. However, not everything that was developed in the writers' room made its way to the big screen. For example, one version of "Avatar: The Way of Water" involved the Na'vi getting into a massive space battle. Here's why it didn't make the final cut.
The writers couldn't make the fight in outer space work
"Avatar: The Way of Water" explored the depths of the Pandora oceans, but that wasn't the only story people had in mind for the sequel. Screenwriter Rick Jaffa told Entertainment Weekly that a different version would have depicted the Na'vi going outside their planet. "There was one idea of a space battle with Na'vi," Jaffa said.
The writers were enthused but didn't know how to incorporate the fight into the movie. Even the man behind Pandora, James Cameron, took a crack at it. "He went off and he wrote an entire script. And, by the way, a brilliant script," Jaffa said. However, the script didn't make it out of the writers' room. As Jaffa noted, despite the excitement surrounding the potential for a possible epic space battle featuring the Na'vi, "the whole script got thrown out because it just didn't really work with the story we were telling."
Luckily, the material didn't go to waste. Instead, Sherri L. Smith's licensed comic, "Avatar: The High Ground," adapts part of the story, with the multiple-volume books taking place around the same time as the new film.