A Deleted Avatar Scene Will Completely Change How You See Jake Sully

"Avatar" is easily James Cameron's magnum opus, from the stellar special effects to the worldbuilding of Pandora. The movies are regularly rumored to have substantial runtimes, with "Avatar: Fire and Ash" initially rumored to have a nine-hour-long first cut. The films tend to hover around the three hour mark, but scenes still get left on the cutting room floor. A deleted scene from the first movie, featuring Jake (Sam Worthington) meeting Trudy (Michelle Rodriguez), changes how we see Jake because it shows just how isolated and alone he is on his new team.

The scene features Jake at a meal with the scientists, listening as they talk shop, as Trudy introduces herself and takes him to see her helicopter. Jake can't join in with the conversation at the table, since he doesn't have the educational background of the rest of the team and doesn't really know what they're talking about. From the look on his face, he feels out of place, since his brother is supposed to be there, not him. It shows that while he's there physically, he's alone emotionally and mentally. He has no one to confide in, no skin in the game regarding the Pandora invasion, and is there simply because his brother died.

Comments on a YouTube video of the deleted scene show just how much fans wish this scene was in the movie. Many argue that not only does it actually introduce Trudy, who otherwise just seems to randomly appear, but it shows where Jake stands with the team, making a later meal sequence more significant. Jake sits at the end of the table, as far away from Grace (Sigourney Weaver), the team leader, as possible, showing he doesn't yet belong.

"In this dinner scene he's on that end of the table far away from Grace. The next time he gets back, he's right next to Grace, in the conversation, accepted by the scientists, and Norm is then on the opposite side of the table away from Grace," writes user @camgalloway691. This highlights the change in their roles. Norm (Joel David Moore) was originally supposed to be making contact with the Na'vi leaders, but Jake turns out to be better at it, which is a sore subject.

User @joekingham5582 argues the scene also shows why the Na'vi chose Jake, not Norm or anyone else, writing "all the other avatar drivers and scientist[s] are all the same... [Jake] on the other hand is an outcast, he's not the same as the rest of the other avatar drivers the [Na'vi] have met before." They're not wrong. Because Jake wasn't meant to be on the mission, he doesn't have ulterior motives in coming to Pandora. He's not trying to study them or take something from them — he's only there because they said they can help with his mobility if he fills the role.