Michelle Rodriguez won't return to the Avatar franchise for a good reason
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
Stefania Sarrubba
Featured Image Credit: Image Press Agency / TCD/Prod.DB / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV
It seems that Michelle Rodriguez has no intention of going back to Pandora for any of the upcoming Avatar sequels.
The Fast & Furious star addressed the possibility of returning in the role of Trudy Chacón, the fierce pilot she first played in the 2009 epic sci-fi movie from James Cameron.
If you've watched Avatar, you wouldn't be mistaken for thinking that, technically, Rodriguez can't really reprise the role given her character died a martyr in her attempt to help the Na'vi fight the colonising humans.
Not that a mere detail like seeing a character dying on screen has ever stopped Cameron from rounding up a cast of returnees.
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The filmmaker managed to find a loophole to get Alien star Sigourney Weaver back for Avatar: The Way of Water after her character Dr Grace Augustine was killed in the first film of the franchise. How, you may ask? The Ghostbusters actress was down to play a different character, returning to portray Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and Jake (Sam Worthington)'s teenage daughter Kiri through performance and motion capture.
Back to Rodriguez, the actress has made it very clear her Avatar character can't cheat death like many of the other roles she's played. The star has often reprised the role of heroines left for dead, including Letty Ortiz, in the fast car franchise led by Vin Diesel , and Rain Ocampo in Resident Evil.
Speaking with Vanity Fair about a potential return, Rodriguez ruled out coming back as Trudy for a really good reason, as she herself explained to Cameron.
"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],'" she said.
"I was like, 'You can't do that — I died as a martyr. Jim, 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, that would be overkill!'
The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves actress then 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?'"
While it'd be great to have Rodriguez back in the franchise, which currently has three more sequels in the works, she made an excellent point of not wanting to test the audience's suspension of disbelief any further.