Disney Pandora Theme Park May Have Spoiled the Ending of the Avatar Movies

You can’t live like this, baby, in spoilers! Read no further if you haven’t watched “Avatar: Fire & Ash” yet.

For the past 16 years, James Cameron has focused on bringing to life one of the most fully realized and fleshed-out science fiction worlds in recent memory with the “Avatar” films. This is a universe so unique and beautifully animated that it has caused audiences to become depressed over not being able to visit Pandora in real life.

After three films, we have seen the first two acts of the “Avatar” saga, with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) having lit a spark in the inhabitants of Pandora, making them understand that pacifism is of no use in the face of an adversary who wants to eradicate you. The world of “Avatar” was forever changed over the course of these three films, with at least one human now having the ability to breathe the air of the forest moon and even receiving a kuru and the ability to perform tsaheylu with Eywa – completely. game changer for the “Avatar” franchise moving forward. And that’s not to mention the fact that we actually saw the Great Mother herself, with Eywa making an appearance in person (sort of) in “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

And now ? We still have two films left in this franchise, assuming Cameron manages to complete his vision and the grand “Avatar” saga doesn’t end prematurely halfway through. And even though the filmmaker threatened to simply hold a press conference and reveal everything that happened in the last two films if they never got made (via Variety), theme park enthusiasts already know something about Pandora’s future…sort of. That’s because the “Pandora – The World of Avatar” area of ​​Animal Kingdom at DisneyWorld is technically canon to the “Avatar” films.

“Pandora – The World of Avatar” opened in 2017, five years before “Avatar: The Way of Water” hit theaters. However, since every theme park in the United States at the time was obsessed with the notion of “immersion,” it wasn’t enough to just build a cool “Avatar”-themed park. No, Disney also had to convince those who visited that they were on Pandora itself. This meant finding a reason why and how regular visitors to the park could visit the alien world.

Well, the solution was pretty simple: make it canon. That’s right! Just as Galaxy’s Edge is technically canonical to the “Star Wars” movies and TV shows“Pandora — The World of Avatar” is considered the canon of the “Avatar” films. Specifically, the theme park attraction is set a century after the end of the war between the native Na’vi and the humans invading Pandora (as depicted in the films). “The gunships are all broken and rusting in the jungle. Humans are welcome in Pandora,” as Cameron said during the D23 2015 presentation (via IGN).

Oddly enough, two details introduced in “Pandora – The World of Avatar” have only recently been explored in the “Avatar” films. The first involves the Windtraders, as in the nomadic air clan (aka the Tlalim) that Jake and his family travel to at the start of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” There is a store in the theme park area called Windtraders, which sells all kinds of Pandora souvenirs, mainly about Na’vi culture and Pandora wildlife. This shows how the Windtrader clan in the films remains strictly neutral during the war between humanity and the Na’vi, choosing to focus solely on trade.

And then there’s air. Visitors to the theme park can breathe Pandora’s air, unlike humans in the “Avatar” films. Specifically, there is a plant that grows in the guest-visited part of Pandora, known as Flaska Reclinata, which detoxifies the atmosphere and allows people to breathe while keeping Pandora’s wildlife away (since they cannot breathe).

This is a pretty big reveal, one that permanently changes the entire world of “Avatar.” Indeed, we’re already seeing the seeds being sown for what’s a game-changer with “Fire and Ash.” If things go wrong, this development could lead to the widespread terraforming of Pandora and the eradication of the Na’vi. But the fact that the war between humans and the Na’vi ended canonically in the future with what appears to be a clear victory for the Na’vi, with the natives of Pandora now in control and living in peace with the remnants of humanity, makes it seem like there is still hope for the future of Pandora as a whole.

Granted, all of this assumes that Cameron and his collaborators are actually letting the future of the “Avatar” franchise be dictated by a theme park that only a fraction of those who watch these films will ever visit. It’s more likely that the only thing that really matters, canonically, is simply the general idea that Pandora will one day be at peace and that the Na’vi and humans will learn to coexist afterward. The details, including whether a random plant will allow pockets of humanity to breathe on Pandora, could be considered a simple element of theme park design and nothing else. Here again, if the “Avatar” films end after “Fire and Ash”, at least we will have some closure.

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” is now in theaters.