Michelle Rodriguez Isn't Interested In An Avatar Resurrection (& We Agree With Her Reasoning)
The world of Pandora is an interesting planet where the unique and fantastic Indigenous lifeforms have learned quite quickly that humanity's science and technology can appear to mirror magic. This is on account of the Avatar program, which allows humans to craft and embody Na'vi bodies. Of course, these remote-controlled bodies don't exactly inspire a lot of faith in the Na'vi people, but luckily Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is able to prove that not all "Sky People" suffer from what the Na'vi consider insanity.
One of the human allies of the Na'vi is Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez) in the original "Avatar" movie. As a pilot of the human expeditionary force on Pandora, Trudy becomes intimately familiar with the planet's topography, and her friendship with Jake soon sees her fighting (and flying) shoulder to shoulder with the Na'vi during the final moments of "Avatar." Unfortunately, Trudy doesn't survive the epic battle, but as the "Avatar" franchise has proved, death is hardly an obstacle.
During a March 2023 interview with Variety, Rodriguez explained that she wasn't interested in joining the ranks of the resurrected in "Avatar: The Way of Water," saying, "Dude, when I saw Jim [Cameron] recently, he was like, 'I was thinking, What if Michelle came back? A lot of the other characters came back [in 'The Way of Water'].' I was like, 'You can't do that — I died as a martyr.'"
Trudy's resurrection would have been a stretch for the plot
Considering that "The Way of Water" brought back two characters that had died in "Avatar," it makes sense as to why Rodriguez didn't want to come back. Already having two characters return is a bit much, but at least both Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) and Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) have separate and exceptionally different mechanisms for coming back to the "Avatar" franchise. Firstly, Kiri is actually Dr. Grace Augustine from "Avatar," who died from a gunshot wound before her consciousness could be transferred to her Avatar body. However, her connection to the Na'vi god allowed her to return as Kiri.
The resurrection of Quaritch is completely different than Kiri's, and instead of an innate connection to the life energy of Pandora, Quaritch is brought back by humanity's advanced technology and placed into an Avatar body. This happens to many of Quaritch's fallen soldiers from "Avatar," and they make up a squadron of hostile Na'vi. Where Trudy falls in these equations would have been somewhat of a stretch, since the human forces would be reluctant to spend their resources on resurrecting somebody whom they perceive as a traitor, while on the other end, Trudy never connected to Pandora's global spirit, so it would make little sense for her to be reincarnated as a Na'vi.
Rodriguez is tired of her characters constantly coming back
Besides the obvious plot stretch of bringing back Trudy in some capacity, Rodriguez has felt like this is becoming a reoccurring trend for her characters that hardly makes any sense. In that same interview with Variety, Rodriguez revealed that she listed off all of her characters that have been resurrected in other franchises to Cameron, saying, "I came back in 'Resident Evil,' I wasn't supposed to. I came back in 'Machete,' I wasn't supposed to. I came back with 'Letty,' I wasn't supposed to. We can't do a fourth [time], that would be overkill!" Rodriguez added, "I don't understand, it's so weird. I guess they don't know what to do with the girl who doesn't have a boyfriend. 'She doesn't have a boyfriend. Should we keep her alive, or kill her?'"
Judging by Rodriguez's comments, and the aforementioned plot issues surrounding Trudy's return in "The Way of Water," it seems like it was the smart decision to dash Cameron's thought. Having two characters come back is already pushing what is believable for the audience, and even though Cameron was nice enough to make the offer for Rodriguez, it seems like she didn't think it would have been the brightest move for her or the movie.